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BY THE SAME AUTHOR 

OUR PALACE WONDERFUL 

(sixth edition) 

"Father Houck weaves together into a pleas- 
ant narrative the great thoughts of all times." — 
Catholic Educational Review, 

"The book pursues the 'argument from design* 
and embodies a charmingly clear condensation of 
scientific and natural knowledge." — Scientific 
American. 

"The book is, on the whole, well written, well 
made, and neatly adorned." — American Eccles, 
Review. 

"An excellent little book." — The Outlook, 



The Palace Beautiful 



OR 



The Spiritual Temple 
of God 



BY THE 



REV. FREDERICK A. HOUCK 

Author of "Life of St. Gerlach," "Our Palace 
Wonderful," Etc, Etc. 



*^The House which I desire to "build is great; for 
our God is great above all gods. WhOj then^ can he 
able to build Him a worthy house? If heaven and 
the heaven of heavens cannot contain HiiUj who am 
I that I should be able to build Him a house? But 
to this end only^ that incense may be burned before 
Him." II Paralip.j Ch. 2^ 5 and 6. 



First Edition, Jan. 1, 1921, 



FREDERICK PUSTET COMPANY, Inc., 

NEW YORK AND CINCINNATI 
1921 












\ 



Nibil Obstat:- 

RAPHAEL. KINNANB, D. D., 

Censor Liborwn 

Impntnatun- 

JOSBPHUS SCHRBMBS, 

Episcopua Toletanus 

in America 



Entered According to Act of Congress in the Year 1921 

By REV. FREDERICK A. HOUCK 

In tlie Office of the Librarian of Congress, at 

Washington. D. C. 



(All Rights Reserved) 



HAMMOND PRESS 

W. B. CONKEY COMPANY 

CHICAGO 



OEC 13 IS20 
0)C!,A604863 



n^lH> 



> 



THIS BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY 

©ebicateb 

TO MY BELOVED PARENTS, 

ESTEEMED TEACHERS, 

AND ALL OTHER 

BENEFACTORS 



PREFACE 

THIS little volume on the Theological Virtues 
was written as a sequel to "Our Palace 
Wonderful." Throughout both books the author 
endeavored to repay attention as well as attract 
it. The task of developing the latent powers 
and infused virtues of the soul is compared with 
that of an architect and builder. The great work 
of erecting and adorning a "Temple of God," 
which ought to occupy us constantly, should 
afford us even greater delight and satisfaction 
than that experienced by a skillful architect 
who designs a beautiful edifice and then be- 
holds it take form and shape until it is com- 
pleted in all its various details. Love's labor 
shall not be considered lost if this unpretentious 
little book be laid aside with the resolution 
henceforth to build with gold, silver, and pre- 
cious stones. Though its contents may not come 
up to the reader's expectation, I dare say that 
he will at least have become convinced that the 
pursuit of moral goodness is more gratifying 
than the pursuit of truth only, and that the 
greatest joy in life is to be found in cultivating 
a sense of the good, true, and beautiful. If a 
more ardent desire for the higher and nobler 
things of the mind and heart is awakened in the 
reader, let this be deemed a sufficient reason and 

5 



6 The Palace Beautiful 

apology for presenting truths and metaphors as 
old as mankind. 

The stars in the sky- 
Are still beheld, 

Though centuries gone by 
Their fires were quelled, 

From such unreckoned height 
Doth faU their light. 

So thoughts that barren seem 
And without bourne 

May like a dead star beam 
In souls forlorn. 

When those that writ them sleep 
Unf athomably deep. 

—Thorley. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 

chapter. page 

Introduction' 9 

I. Foundation of the Palace Beautiful— Faith 18 

Requisites of a Strong Faith 18 

1. Character 18 

2. Correct Knowledge of God and Divine 
Revelation 25 

3. The Virtues of Humility and Religion .... 51 

II. Superstructure of the Palace Beautiful—- 

Hope 66 

Requisites of a Firm Hope 66 

1. A Good Conscience 6Q 

2. Belief in Divine Providence 72 

3. Confidence in God's Mercy 85 

III. Unitive Principle and Ornament of The 

Palace Beautiful— Charity 96 

Requisites of an Ardent Charity 96 

1. Hatred of Sin 96 

2. Sanctifying Grace 103 

3. The Practice of the Supernatural Love of 
God and of our Fellowmen 109 

7 



8 Table of Contents 



CHAPTER. PAGE 

IV. Divine Exemplar of the Palace Beautiful- 
Jesus Christ 125 



V. Models and Advocates— The Blessed Virgin 

AND the Saints 139 

Conclusion— Zeal an Essential Requisite 156 

Index 165 



INTRODUCTION 



GOD'S PALACE 

All men of Faith, come with me, 

A lovely palace you shall see; 

'Tis roofed all o'er with gleaming gold, 
Its walls enchased with gems untold. 

Its rooms of crystal all alight 

Shed glory on the dazzled sight ; 
And figures, round the parapet, 
Of wondrous beauty, guards are set. 

Who reared this palace from the dust? 

Who owns, or holds it but in trust? 
So fair, ^0 shall it fall one day 
And blended be with common clay? 

A Kingly architect is here; 

He made it and it cost Him dear ; 

For when His hand had decked it so 
^Twas stolen by His deadly foe. 

The Queen who held the castle walls. 
And trod in white its radiant halls. 

Now captive, wept and moaned, for sin. 

Her cruel foe, she had let in. 

The great King pitied her in chains ! 

Though banished from His own domains, 
He fought the foe, and Conqueror stood. 
Then freed and cleansed her in His Blood. 
9 



10 The Palace Beautiful 

This lovely palace is your Soul, 
Where Will sits Queen, 'neath His control 
Who like a Sun is living there 
Unseen, yet all her life doth share. 

His own once more— gaze on her now; 

Seven Jewels light her queenly brow; 
Is she not fair? And see, sevenfold 
The castle walls of gems and gold. 

— M. S. Pine. 

The Palace of God, sketched in the above 
verses, is the subject-matter of this little book. 
Were one to ransack the entire visible universe, 
he could find nothing comparable in grandeur, 
subUmity and excellence with the Spiritual 
Temple of God. Before creating man, God took 
counsel, and said: "Let us make man according 
to Our image and likeness." And He made man 
"a little less than the angels." '"Thou hast 
crow^ned him with glory and with honor, and 
hast set him over the works of Thy hands." 
Here we have man's sublime origin. Our first 
parents and their descendants were to spend a 
life of relative happiness in paradise, and then, 
without passing through the "valley of death," 
obtain heaven for all eternity. 

And when, through a disregard of his Mak- 
er's will, man had all but effaced the divine 
image and likeness according to which he is 
created, the Second Person of the Blessed 

IPs. 8 :6. 



Introduction 11 



Trinity descended to this earth and assumed 
human nature. In the God-man, Jesus Christ, 
we behold that original image and likeness in 
all its pristine beauty and perfection. The Son 
of Man is the highest and noblest exemplar of 
mankind as well as its Savior. For, He became 
"like unto man in all save sin." 

The transcendent glory of the transfigured 
Christ on Tabor gives us a faint idea of the 
beauty and perfection of which, under the in- 
fluence of divine grace, human nature is capable. 
When Our Lord deigned to let the splendor of 
His divine nature illumine and transfigure His 
human soul and body, Peter cried out in an 
ecstasy of delight: ^ "Lord, it is good for us to 
be here." In the joyous exuberance of his heart, 
the prince of the apostles lost all his former es- 
teem of the purely natural. For the nonce he was 
carried away by the rapturous delight of the 
spiritual and supernatural. Under the spell of 
that glorious vision he is quite willing to forego 
the indulgence of any and every kind of natural 
pleasure, and that for all time to come. 

The contemplation of nature is able to pro- 
duce joy of a rare kind. All things natural, 
however, must needs yield the sceptre to things 
supernatural. The grace of God teaches a higher 
kind of knowledge, and imparts a keener joy. 
Natural science is a source of unerring certi- 

iSt. Matt 17 :4. 



12 The Palace Beautiful 

tude, and true art is its expression. Both art 
and science are able to give joy and delight ot 
a rare order; but no amount of purely natural 
knowledge can ever become a passport to the 
sphere of the divine and supernatural order. 
Nor can anything purely natural hold the place 
of honor in the Spiritual Temple of God. Art 
and nature may be able to lead one up to the 
very vestibule of The Palace Beautiful, but of 
themselves they cannot admit him; for this 
sublime edifice belongs to the order divine and 
supernatural. 

^"An immortal instinct, deep within the 
spirit of man, is a sense of the beautiful. It is, 
at once, an indication and a consequence of his 
perennial existence. It is no mere appreciation 
of the beauty before us, but a wild effort to 
reach the beauty above. Inspired by an ecstatic 
prescience of the glories beyond the grave, we 
struggle, by multiform combinations among the 
things and thoughts of time, to attain a ^portion 
of that Loveliness' whose very elements, per- 
haps, appertain to Eternity alone. And thus, 
when by poetry, or when by music (the most 
entrancing of the poetic moods), we find our- 
selves melted into tears, it is not through ex- 
cess of pleasure, but through a certain petulant, 
impatient sorrow at our inability to grasp now, 
wholly, here on earth, at once and forever, those 

1 The Poetic Principle. — Edgar Allan Poe. 



Introduction 13 



divine and rapturous joys of which, through 
the poem or through the music, we attain to but 
brief, indeterminate glimpses." 

Through the boundless love and goodness of 
God as manifested by supernatural revelation, 
we can already in this world secure and enjoy 
"the elements of that Loveliness" hinted at by 
the immortal Poe. 

^ "This is eternal life. That they may know 
Thee, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent." 
The Christian beholds and enjoys all that the 
poet, artist, or naturalist beholds and enjoys. 
His appreciation of the true, the good, and the 
beautiful is as keen as that of any devotee of 
nature. Not only does his spirit revel in the 
superb wonders of nature, but his heart as well. 
Perhaps no scene can better illustrate this great 
difference between the mere natural joy of the 
unbeliever and the supernatural delight expe- 
rienced by the man of Faith, than a view of the 
diamond-studded firmament on a star-lit night, 
out in mid-ocean. The rationalist, whose ken 
is circumscribed by the confines of the material 
universe, may experience raptures of enthu- 
siastic wonderment as he contemplates the 
myriads of bright suns (stars are suns) rolling 
about in the deep blue sea overhead, or when 
he beholds those golden gems reflected in the 
vast expanse of the ocean around and about 

2 St. John 17 :3. 



14 The Palace Beautiful 

him. His eyes, however, do not see all of its 
grandeur. The unbeliever cannot look into the 
great beyond. 

For the Christian, however, whose aesthetic 
sense has not been entirely neglected, the mys- 
terious and stupendous wonders of God's visible 
creation have a quite unique charm. They 
ravish the whole man. Illumined by the light 
of Faith, the Christian is able to peer through 
the rich, azure tapestry of heaven's vestibule 
and gaze with delight and wonderment on that 
eternal home "prepared before the foundations 
of the earth." Before his prayerful eyes 

Night's decorated altar throbs and glows 
Far out in sacred stillnesses of space, 
The moon, for sanctuary lamp, has place 

Of proud dominion; starry blooms unclose. 

Like red and purple tapers; darkness shows 
Blue sky for altar-cloth; and there is trace 
Of filmly clouds to serve as altar-lace. 

Pure white and clean as winter's driven snows. 

—Miller. 

The ecstatic scene awakens in his bosom the 
desire to know and love, more and more, the 
Creator of all that grand beneficence. Whilst 
contemplating the all-good God in His works, 
the Christian's soul is deluged with purest joy. 
Yes, those wondrous scenes enrapture the whole 
man. ^"My heart and my flesh have rejoiced 

IPs. 83:2. 



Introduction 15 



in the living God." The longer he contemplates 
that other and more beautiful world, the more 
does the man of Faith yearn to gain possession 
of his true home — Heaven. An irresistible crav- 
ing for its perfect and satiating bliss quite over- 
powers him. He longs to look upon his Creator 
— the inexhaustible source of all truth, beauty, 
and goodness, from Whom everything has its 
origin, and upon Whom all things depend. He 
yearns to see his Heavenly Father "face to face.'* 
And he understands, now, how time and eter- 
nity, past and present, verge towards God and 
are united in Him. Joy, hope, love, delight, and 
true peace inundate his ravished heart and 
spirit. This is why every devout servant of God 
esteems the least degree of supernatural hap- 
piness more than tlie greatest amount of natural 
pleasure. He may find true delight in the arts 
and sciences, but never in his appreciation does 
he give them the first place. 

To develop this higher appreciation for the 
things of God and eternity is not a matter of 
knowledge and instruction only. The human 
mind may possess great erudition, and still go 
through life in anxiety and disquietude. The 
will must be trained, and the heart disciplined 
before its emotions can be attuned to the 
music of the heavenly spheres. So long as 
a man rebels against the supernatural order, he 
cannot find true joy or peace, no matter how 

2 



16 The Palace Beautiful 

great his learning or keen his perception of the 
beautiful may be. 

The great work of bringing our will into con- 
formity with the Divine Will may be compared 
with that of the architect and builder. We 
rightly speak of "building up" a character. Now 
an architect first fixes upon a plan of the build- 
ing to be constructed. So must we. At the be- 
ginning, however, we cannot enter upon every 
minute detail, or consider all the possible cir- 
cumstances of our life. The length of time in 
which we shall be able to build is brief, and 
known to God alone. So, too, are our capacities 
and limitations known to Him alone. It vdll 
suffice, therefore, to decide on a plan in a gen- 
eral way. A fixed and definite plan, however, 
must be made and adhered to, else the begin- 
ning, middle and end of our life-work will lack 
symmetry and proportion. 

When preparing his plans, the architect will 
first decide upon the nature of the foundation, 
superstructure, and ornaments. This must be 
done with regard to the Spiritual Edifice we are 
to construct. The three Theological Virtues in- 
fused into the soul in baptism may be con- 
sidered as the three principal parts of The Pal- 
ace Beautiful; for, it is by means of these thr<ee 
virtues that man becomes "God's Building." 
"By baptism man is built up into a Spiritual 
Dwelling." ' "Faith," says St. Augustine, "must 

1 Sermo xx. 



Introduction 17 



form the foundation of the Spiritual House, 
Christian Hope its walls, and Charity its unitive 
principle and ornament." The moral and car- 
dinal virtues, as well as the gifts of the Holy 
Ghost, will then reinforce it and enhance its 
beauty. 

The work of removing obstacles and impedi- 
ments must, of course, precede the work of con- 
struction. At times, this necessary preparation 
is effected by severe bodily suffering. Again, 
mental anguish, separations, disappointments, or 
disillusionments will prepare the soul. The 
dovetailing and furbishing is often done best 
under need and penury, or by the monotony of 
routine duty and the chafing cares of a work-a- 
day life. At times, the corners and rough edges 
of one's character or disposition are removed 
by the friction of opposition, enmities, or even 
direct persecution. The rebellious and inordi- 
nate passions must be subdued and regu- 
lated. The world in which we live can be 
considered a big workshop in which this may be 
done, and our daily experiences are often noth- 
ing more nor less than the blows and strokes 
required in the hewing and building process 
which we must undergo. He who neglects his 
plain duty and cowardly shuns these necessary 
blows and strokes, shall never be able to trans- 
form his soul into a "Palace Beautiful." 



CHAPTER I 

FAITH, THE FOUNDATION OF THE PALACE BEAUTIFUL. 
REQUISITES OF A STRONG FAITH 



1. Christian Character 

HE who wishes to rear a Temple of God 
must build on the bed-rock of a Christian 
character. Character originally meant a mark 
put upon a coin or seal. In its applied sense it 
came to mean marked individuality. We do not 
necessarily associate the word character with 
rank, office, or riches. Even a prince or king 
may be a slave to his impulses or to circum- 
stances, not having any real will-power of his 
own. More than one man who is "worth" mil- 
lions, yea, even billions of dollars, is a worth- 
less character. We do not call a person "a man 
of character" simply because he is in possession 
of wealth or influence. The Roman Emperor 
Nero possessed both, but he was wholly indif- 
ferent to moral principles. Pontius Pilate was 
a successful politician, but, when the adherence 
to the principles of justice and equity jeop- 
ardized his chance of advancement, he cast 
them to the winds. Neither do we primarily as- 
sociate the term character with a fine physique, 
mechanical skill, or professional ability. The 

18 



Faith, The Foundation 19 

most awkward of men may yet be a strong 
character. A helpless invalid, too, may be of this 
sort. Whilst a perfect man physically, or a 
gifted professionalist, may be wholly without 
consistency. 

Character is not to be sought in externals. 
It is part and parcel of the very soul of a man. 
And its efficient cause is his free will. A man's 
character may be termed the expression of his 
principles in moral life. The personality of a 
man as revealed in his daily conduct, we call 
his character. In this sense we speak of a strong 
or a weak character; or again, according to a 
man's predominant moral traits we call him a 
choleric, a phlegmatic, or a sanguinic character. 
In the narrower sense, character may be defined 
as "life dominated by principles" as distin- 
guished from life dominated by whims, ca- 
prices, or impulses. It is "the sum total of the 
inherited or acquired ethical traits which give 
a person his moral individuality, and char- 
acter." 

Since a man's character is the manifestation 
of his moral principles, we speak of had as 
well as of good characters. If the moral prin- 
ciples which determine a man's conduct are 
true and sound, they will be productive of a 
good character; if, however, they are wrong 
and unsound, a bad character will be the result. 
So, too, is that man to be termed bad who is 



20 The Palace Beautiful 

indifferent with regard to all moral principles. 
Such a man is like a weather-phane, subject to 
every storm and wind of passion. He is fickle 
and capricious; now, under the domination of 
the blues, and surly; or again, in good humor, 
and whimsical. A man without character may, 
in his external conduct, be either good or bad. 
If his impulses and environment are good, then 
his external conduct is commonly without re- 
proach; if they are bad, then it will be wicked. 
A slave, at all times, to internal impulses which 
know no law, or to circumstances which may be 
bad, good, or indifferent. Such men in private 
life are "neither flesh nor fish," and in public 
life they are time-servers and can never be 
relied on. 

A man of character, given the same circum- 
stances, will always act in much the same man- 
ner. His motives or principles are the same; 
therefore, his conduct is consistent. A man 
of character may be a bad man, and this he 
will be when his principles are bad; and such 
a man will be consistently and masterfully bad, 
whereas a good character will be consistently 
and masterfully good. We have an apt illus- 
tration of this fact in two men within our recol- 
lection. If we had no other knowledge of Czol- 
gosz — the infamous assassin of President McKin- 
ley — than the principle to which he gave public 
utterance shortly before his execution, we 



Faith, The Foundation 21 

would know that he possessed a strong charac- 
ter and was a man of marked individuality, yet, 
a wicked man and a menace to human society. 
On the other hand, the oft-repeated dying words 
of his illustrious victim, "It is God's way," re- 
vealed a character of quite another sort, such as 
everyone of sane mind and good will would like 
to possess. 

Ordinarily we wish to use the word character 
in a good sense only, and then it signifies a true, 
upright, religious. God-fearing man. A man 
whose thoughts, words and actions are domi- 
nated by principles that are true, lasting and 
universal. ^In the year 1835, a large fire broke 
out in the city of New York. It started among 
the warehouses that happened to be filled with 
great treasures of various kinds from every 
part of the globe. For two days and nights the 
fire spread constantly — leaping, roaring, de- 
vouring and consuming everything in its path. 
When from time to time a strong gust of wdnd 
would furrow its course through the sea of 
flames canopied by an impenetrable cloud of 
smoke, there could be seen a stately edifice 
standing all by itself, seemingly unscathed. 
When the fire was finally extinguished, and 
people again walked along those once busy 
streets, now filled with debris, they seemed un- 



1 Cf . "American Encyclopedia of History and Geography," 
under City of New York. 



22 The Palace Beautiful 

consciously to wend their way towards that 
wonderful fire-proof building which stood there 
alone amid universal ruin. There it was in all 
its former strength and grandeur like an im- 
pregnable fortress, defying the onslaught of the 
enemy. From foundation to cope-stone, no part 
of that edifice had been slighted by the architect 
and builder. They knew well the destructive 
power of fire, and endeavored to make it proof 
against this element from without as well as 
from within. And now that their honest and 
painstaking care had saved the building with 
its immense treasures, their joy was inex- 
pressible. 

The formation of character may well be com- 
pared with erecting such a building. Those 
who wish to build up a Christian character must 
above all begin by laying an indestructible foun- 
dation. That we come from God and are destined 
to return to Him in order to be judged, must 
be the basis of all true character-building. One 
cannot build a foundation on the turbulent bil- 
lows of unbelief. To ignore religious truths in 
developing character is like trying to erect a 
fire-proof building with straw and cane-brake. 
Nor will a veneer of ethics, culture, politeness, 
or refinement make it proof against the ele- 
ments of moral destruction that are sure to come 
from without, as well as from within. If one 
wishes to build permanently, the entire edifice 



Faith, The Foundation 23 

must be without a flaw — not even one wrong 
principle of morality dare be adopted. 

The human mind, at birth, resembles a writ- 
ing tablet that has never been used. With the 
dawn of reason come the first moral principles. 
If the principles acquired in childhood and 
adolescence are wrong, a bad character will 
commonly be the result. If none but Christian 
principles be inculcated, and correct ideals held 
up for imitation, a strong Christian character 
is sure eventually to develop. 

The work of strengthening and perfecting 
one's character is the task of a lifetime. If well 
begun, the task v^ll commonly progress best 
under apparent difficulties. Friction begets 
light. Energy is called forth by opposition. A 
building impresses us by its strength and firm- 
ness during a storm rather than when the 
weather is calm. The most important factor in 
the building up of character is self-control. 
Character, in fact, springs from and is nourished 
by the virtue of self-control. Sow actions and 
reap a habit; sow habits and reap a character. 
And this earnest effort will beget a kind of self- 
reverence, which makes one shrink from doing 
anything base, mean, or sinful. To perfect one's 
character is paramount to developing what is 
good and noble in one's nature. It is bringing 
to the fore the image and likeness of God with 
which we have been endowed. 



24 The Palace Beautiful 

Every man of character, moreover, tries to 
have an ideal, i. e., a type of superior excellence 
which he strives to attain. And one's ideal is 
nothing else than his principles grouped to- 
gether, so as to form one complete, harmonious 
whole. A man will commonly identify his ideal 
with some great person, whose life will then be 
studied and imitated. An ideal in the moral 
world may be compared with a scientific system 
in the material world. Both are true, lasting, 
and universal. In order that a scientific system 
be really such, and not a mere hypothesis, it 
must rest on a true and permanent basis, 1. e., 
on the universal and unchangeable laws of 
nature. The whole system, in order to be true, 
must be without a flaw in any of its kindred 
branches. Just as soon as it is proved that any 
one of its supposed laws does not hold good in 
all cases, the whole system falls and must be 
thrown upon the junk-pile of discarded scien- 
tific theories. Thus fared the geocentric system 
of old as soon as the great Copernicus proved, 
that, according to existing physical laws as ob- 
served by him in the motions of the planets, the 
sun and not the earth is the center of our 
planetary system. 

Now, as scientific research gives us the un- 
derlying laws of the physical world, so does 
reason, illumined by the Christian Religion, 
furnish us the underlying laws, or principles, of 



Faith, The Foundation 25 

moral conduct. The one true religion alone is, 
therefore, able to furnish man correct ideals of 
moral conduct. These must be learned and prac- 
ticed. The constant effort, then, to acquire a 
Christian character, must form the bed-rock of 
"The Palace Beautiful." 

2. Correct Knowledge of God and Divine 
Revelation 

Since God is the ^ "Alpha and the Omega," 
"the first and the last," "the beginning and the 
end of every creature," it is clear that the Spir- 
itual House of the Soul can neither be completed 
nor begun without Him. ^ "Unless the Lord build 
the house, they labor in vain that build it." A 
firm, constant, universal and supernatural faith 
in Jesus Christ and the Church established by 
Him must form the foundation, else no perma- 
nent edifice can be erected. In the words of St. 
Jude, the apostle, we are to build up ourselves 
in ourselves, upon our most holy Faith. 

Faith comes from God. God, in the first 
place, imparts to our souls in baptism the ability 
to believe. ^"No man can come to me," said 
Christ, "unless the Father Who has sent Me, 
draw him." And again: "Blessed art thou 
Simon Bar-Jona, for flesh and blood have not 
revealed it to thee." Without the divinely in- 

lApoc. 1:8. 2Ps. 125:1. 3 st. John 6:44. 



26 The Palace Beautiful 

fused virtue of Faith, it is impossible to believe 
in God and Divine Revelation. By the light of 
reason we can attain to the knowledge of God 
and the necessity of a Divine Revelation. Rea- 
son can give us the preambles of Faith, but not 
the theological virtue of Faith; for this virtue 
belongs to the supernatural order, and, conse- 
quently, is a free gift of God. This divine favor, 
however, will not be withheld from anyone who 
disposes himself properly for it; for, "God wish- 
eth all men to be saved, and to come to a knowl- 
edge of the truth." 

The virtue of Faith must be put into prac- 
tice. We must endeavor "to live by faith." 
There is no one so far removed from God as the 
man that will not believe in Him; for, "without 
Faith it is impossible to please God." To believe 
in God is the first step towards union with Him. 
"He that cometh to God must believe that He is." 
Faith, in a way, is the most necessary of all the 
virtues, it being conditioned even by charity; for, 
^ "the will cannot tend to God with perfect love 
unless the intellect possess right Faith about 
Him." 

Reason and Revelation are both necessary to 
arrive at this "right faith." They may be com- 
pared to a light thrown upon the mind. By 
means of these two lights we can invade and ex- 
plore things spiritual, as well as things mate- 

1 Summa, St. Thomas, Part III. 



Faith, The Foundation 27 

rial. The stronger the light of the intellect, the 
clearer will be the knowledge or intellectual pos- 
session of the things that can be known by rea- 
son. The light of Faith, however, is of a higher 
and more penetrating kind. Physicists tell us 
that red light has one hundred and thirty mil- 
lions of vibrations in a second, and violet light 
twice this number. And, "Roentgen rays," ^ "are 
fourteen millionths, ( i ooVooo ) ^^ ^ millimeter in 
length, i. e., about seventy-five times smaller 
than the smallest wave length of sunlight. This 
"newly discovered light," on account of its 
"hardness," penetrates material substances 
wholly impervious to ordinary light. But not 
even the "X-rays" are able to go beyond the 
confines of the natural and physical order. The 
light of theological Faith, however, belongs to 
the supernatural order. It can in a way reveal 
and explore the realm of the blessed. Faith 
manifests things that are wholly invisible to the 
mere light of reason. Thus reason may be safe- 
ly followed as a guide in matters pertaining to 
our temporal career as citizens of this globe. 
But its light is not strong and "hard" enough to 
reveal the supernatural glory and kingdom for 
which we are destined in eternity. 

There is no ceremony of the Church more 
striking and significant than that prescribed for 
baptism. At the vestibule of the church, before 

1 Scientific American, I, 16, '97. 



28 The Palace Beautiful 

the un-baptized is allowed to enter the bap- 
tistry, he is addressed with the words: "What 
dost thou ask of the Church of God?" He an- 
swers, "Faith." "And what doth Faith bring 
thee to?" again is asked: "Life everlasting," is 
his answer. These questions and their answers 
are never omitted, not even in the case of infant 
baptism. Yea, they rather are emphasized when 
addressed, through its sponsor, to a poor, frail 
creature that has as yet scarcely seen the light 
of day. The helpless little one, hardly able to 
use the five senses which it possesses, is taught 
by the Church to ask for a sixth faculty of 
perception — a spiritual sight — by means of 
which it can discern the truths of Divine Revela- 
tion. It is struggling against mighty odds to pre- 
serve the feeble mortal life it possesses, and yet, 
it is taught by Holy Church to ask for the ever- 
lasting life of the blessed in heaven. It is, then, 
by means of supernatural faith in God and 
Divine Revelation that man hopes to build a 
Spiritual Mansion fit for the heavenly Jerusalem. 
"He that believeth and is baptized shall be 
saved; he that believeth not, shall be con- 
demned." 

Supernatural faith in Almighty God and His 
Revelation is the indestructible foundation upon 
which every man who wishes to save his soul 
must build. God is "the beginning and the end," 
"the first and the last of every creature." "In 



Faith, The Foundation 29 

the beginning, Lord, Thou f oundedst the earth, 
and the heavens are the work of Thy hands. 
They shall change, but Thou remainest, and all 
of them shall grow old like a garment, and as 
a vesture Thou shalt change them and they shall 
be changed. But Thou art always the self -same 
and Thy years shall not fail." God is the 
^ "Father of lights, with Whom there is no 
change nor shadow of alteration." 

Every atom in the universe is in motion. 
All things without exception, even the so-called 
"fixed stars," move perpetually, and absolutely 
nothing "continues in one stay." This seeming- 
ly immovable "terra firma" which we inhabit 
is speeding on through space with a velocity of 
about nineteen miles a second. And what else 
is this "solid" globe of ours save a mighty caul- 
dron, bursting and cracking here and there, and 
never abiding in one place or condition. The 
volcanoes, steam- jets, and geysers are its safety- 
valves. How little, after all, we do know of the 
innermost apartment of this terrestrial globe. 
Like ants we creep around on its surface and 
peep into its burned-out craters, or volcanoes, 
all but helpless against their occasional out- 
breaks. 

One Being in the universe, however, is with- 
out change — God. Though absolutely immu- 
table, He is the cause of all motion, "the same 



1 St. James 1 :17. 



30 The Palace Beautiful 

yesterday, today and forever." Nothing in this 
world can be more salutary than a correct 
knowledge of the unchangeable Supreme Ruler 
of the Universe. If one has a false notion of 
God, his knowledge of the other sciences must 
necessarily be incomplete and unsatisfactory. 
And the science that ignores or denies the ex- 
istence of a Creator and Sovereign Lord cannot 
be thorough. Such a so-called science must of 
necessity remain rudimentary and superficial. 

The nature of man's immortal soul and the 
problems involved in its eternal destiny cannot 
be solved without a correct knowledge of God. 
Science, therefore, that leads away from God is 
like a guide that conducts the traveler along 
tortuous paths into a gloomy forest and there 
abandons him. "We cannot disjoin God," says 
Chalmers, "from a single particle of the uni- 
verse, without desolating the universe of God." 

A correct knowledge of the Deity, on the 
other hand, promotes temporal and eternal hap- 
piness. It weds the finite mind to the truth born 
of God, and the blessed fruit of the union is 
interior peace and joy. The better we know 
the all good God, the more will we love Him. 
^"I remembered God," exclaims the Royal 
David, "and was delighted." It is easy to un- 
derstand why the Psalmist found delight in 
contemplating the Infinite One. For, wonder 



IPs. 76:4. 



Faith, The Foundation 31 

causes delight, and excites a desire to know 
more of that which caused it. And the acquisi- 
tion of greater knowledge develops the intellect 
and rejoices the heart. 

To learn things for the first time causes 
greater delight than to recollect them. No 
human mind can comprehend God, and thus 
exhaust the knowledge that is to be gained about 
Him and Revelation. The potentialities of this 
desire to know God better are without number, 
and our consciousness of this fact, ordinarily 
at least, keeps alive the wonder which we expe- 
rience whilst progressing in the knowledge of 
the Infinite One; and the acquisition of each 
additional truth in turn stimulates our desire 
to know God better and to love Him more. 
This sublime pursuit affords the purest of 
earthly delights. We are commanded, more- 
over, to love God with all the powers of our 
soul. And the fulfillment of this "first and great- 
est commandment" implies the duty to progress 
in the knowledge of God. No one, therefore, 
can grow in the love of God, which is "the bond 
of perfection" and the cause of justification, who 
is indifferent to the acquisition of greater knowl- 
edge of God. 

But Who and What is God? It is impossible 
for man to understand perfectly the nature and 
attributes of the Infinite Creator of all things. 
Because God is a spirit, invisible to human eyes, 



32 The Palace Beautiful 

and the Infinite Perfection, our knowledge of 
Him, at best, shall ever be limited and very 
imperfect, at least in this v^orld. ^"The pagan 
philosopher Simonides v^as asked by Hiero, 
King of Syracuse, in what consisted the essence 
of God. The former prayed that one day be 
granted to him that he might reflect upon so 
important a subject. At the end of the day, he 
requested that two others might be given to him; 
and at the termination of these, he asked for a 
further prolongation of three more days. At 
length he gave this answer : 'The more, King, 
I meditate upon the question, the more do I find 
whereon to meditate. But should I attempt to 
express to thee in what the essential properties 
of the Divine Nature consist, words and names 
and signs would fail.' " And who has not ex- 
perienced the same difficulty which confronted 
Simonides ? 

The fact, however, that every language has 
a name to designate the Deity proves that man 
can know God, at least imperfectly. And strange 
to say, the name of the Infinite One is spelled 
with four letters in almost every language. ^ "It 
is in Latin, Deus; French, Dieu; Greek, Zeus; 
German, Gott; Scandinavian, Odin; Swedish, 
Codd; Syrian, Adad; Persian, Syra; Tartarian, 
Idga; Spanish, Dios; East Indian, Esgi or Zeul; 
Turkish, Addi; Egyptian, Aumn or Zeut; Jap- 

1 From the German Translation by Veith. 

2 igchoolmate, IV. 10, '19. 



Faith, The Foundation 33 

anese, Zain; Peruvian, Lian; Wallachian, Zene; 
Estrurian, Chur; Tyrrhenian, Eher; Irish, Dieh; 
Croatian, Roga; Margarian, Oese; Arabian, Alia; 
Dalmatian, Rogt." "The Hebrew name *Jahveh,' 
which occurs 6,823 times in the Masoretic text 
of the Old Testament," is, perhaps, the most ex- 
pressive of God's essence. It signifies that Be- 
ing "Who always was. Who is, and Who always 
shall be." This name "Jahveh" (Jehovah) 
was held in so great reverence under the Old 
Dispensation that it was deemed too holy for 
human utterance. Only on the Day of Atone- 
ment was it pronounced, and by the high priest 
only. God is, then, the Infinite One — the Eternal 
Truth — Our Creator and Supreme Lord, upon 
Whom we are entirely dependent, and Whom 
we must believe and obey. 

But has God actually revealed truths to man- 
kind, and, if so, have we an infallible interpreter 
of His Revelation? That God has spoken and 
still speaks to us through the Church which 
He has established is beyond cavil. No fact 
is better established than this one. As evidence 
of her divine origin, the one true Church of God 
points to the prophecies of the Old Testament. 
Enlightened from on High, those divinely chosen 
teachers of mankind — the prophets — announced 
and described the coming Redeemer, Who had 
been promised by the Heavenly Father at man's 
fall. The Savior's descent from the tribe of 



34 The Palace Beautiful 

Judah and the family of David, the place and 
time of His birth, many incidents of His passion 
and death. His own glorious triumph as well as 
that of the Church which He would establish, 
were clearly foretold hundreds of years before 
any of these events could have been known by 
natural means only. In the Old Testament God 
spoke through the prophets, but ^ "in these days 
He hath spoken to us by His Son, Whom He hath 
appointed Heir of all things," ^"concerning 
Whom Moses had written" about fifteen hun- 
dred years before His advent into this world. 

When Christ — "the Desired of the Nations" — 
appeared. He pointed to the prophecies in tes- 
timony of His divine mission. He who reads 
the Scriptures with attention will soon arrive at 
the conviction that a Messiah or Savior had been 
promised long before Christ's advent; also, that 
the coming Redeemer was described iby the 
prophets in an unmistakable manner; and 
finally, that Jesus Christ is the Messiah foretold 
by the prophets. As had been prophesied many 
centuries before His birth, Jesus Christ came 
into this world as the lineal descendant of the 
patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He was 
born of the tribe of Judah, of the royal family 
of David, and was the Son of an Immaculate 
Virgin. The Desired of the Nations came at 
that particular time which had been foretold 

1 Hebr. 1 :2. 2 st. John 5 ;46. 



Faith, The Foundation 35 

by the prophet Daniel about four hundred and 
fifty years previous; and He was born in the 
village of Bethlehem, which had been prophe- 
sied seven centuries before as the birthplace of 
the Messiah. 

Later, when Christ entered upon His public 
career, St. John the Baptist, who had been an- 
nounced as the forerunner of the Messiah five 
hundred years before, exclaimed with holy en- 
thusiasm the moment he caught sight of Him': 
^ "Behold the Lamb of God— behold Him Who 
taketh away the sins of the world; this is He 
of Whom I said : 'After me there cometh a Man 
who is preferred before me, because He was 
before me.' " 

One by one the prophecies pertaining to the 
Messiah were now fulfilled. The clear and well- 
defined sketch, drawn under the inspiration of 
the Holy Ghost by Moses, the patriarchs and 
the prophets, found its full realization in Jesus 
Christ. When exhorting His hearers to accept 
Him as their Redeemer, He ever and anon re- 
ferred them to the sacred writings. "Search the 
Scriptures," He was wont to say, "the same are 
they that give testimony of me." Christ alone 
could do this, for in Him and in Him alone were 
the hundred or more Messianic prophecies ful- 
filled. 

Now, a person would justly conclude that 

1 St. John 1 :29 sq. 



36 The Palace Beautiful 

such an abundance of evidence would have 
persuaded every man to acknowledge Jesus 
Christ for that which He claimed to be, especial- 
ly since He could address His bitterest enemies 
with the words : "Which of you shall convince 
Me of sin?" Had Almighty God given man no 
other testimony concerning the Divine Mission 
of Jesus Christ than the Messianic prophecies, 
these alone would prove that He was the true 
Messiah. For, the prophecies of the Old Testa- 
ment clearly prove that He was the principal 
Bearer of Divine Revelation. Already at the 
time of His blessed advent, anyone of good will 
could have easily recognized Jesus Christ as the 
promised Savior of the world. ^ "We have found 
Him," exclaim Philip and Nathaniel in the joy of 
their hearts, "of Whom Moses in the law and 
the prophets did write." Jesus Christ is "the 
Expected of the Nations," "Whose going forth 
is from the days of eternity" — "the Emmanuel, 
or God with us" "in Whom all the nations of 
the earth are blest" — "the Lamb of God that 
taketh away the sins of the world." 

Christ's miracles, too, are a rich source of 
evidence for His divine mission. It was to these 
that He Himself appealed when He was wont to 
say to the Jews : "Though you will not believe 
Me, believe the works which I do." He who 
reads the account of Christ's miracles as they 

1 St. John 1 :45. 



Faith, The Foundation 37 

are narrated in the Gospels, must necessarily 
come to the logical conclusion that Jesus Christ 
was really what He professed to be — a Divine 
Legate. For a miracle is an unusual and per- 
ceptible effect produced by the power of God 
outside or beyond the natural order. An effect 
of this kind wrought in testimony of some truth, 
is a confirmation of that truth by the Almighty 
Himself. Hence, if we find that genuine miracles 
were performed by Jesus Christ, we must accept 
the same as divine approvals of His teaching. 

Now the question arises whether Jesus Christ 
wrought genuine miracles? Whether He has 
produced such effects as can be ascribed solely 
to the intervention and power of Almighty God? 
Of this historical fact there can be no reasonable 
doubt. Of the miraculous works which we find 
recorded in the Gospels, we may distinguish two 
great classes or kinds, those that apparently 
were wrought by Almighty God in confirmation 
of Our Lord's divinity and mission, and those 
which Our Lord Himself wrought by His own 
personal power. It would be impossible to 
enumerate all the miracles of either one of these 
two classes; for, as St. John says: ^ "There are 
also many other things which Jesus did; which, 
if they were written every one, the world itself, 
I think, would not be able to contain the books 
that should be written." 



iSt. John 21:25. 



38 The Palace Beautiful 

At the very advent of Christ into this world 
we read that a host of angels descended 
from heaven to greet their new-born King. The 
shepherds were surprised in their watches, and 
summoned to Bethlehem's Crib by a miraculous 
apparition. A wonderful star appears in the 
heavens and announces the Messiah's advent to 
the Magi. Again, when the Divine Infant was 
but a few days old, His foster-father is warned 
by an angel to "take the child and His mother 
and flee into Egypt." 

And if we consider the miracles that Christ 
Himself wrought, we find that He commands 
over the laws of nature as only the Author of 
Nature can. Many miraculous works had been 
performed by Moses and the prophets; but never 
had man appeared on the face of the globe who 
did works like those of Christ. The divine le- 
gates of the Old Testament wrought genuine 
miracles, but they could do so only in the name 
of another. They worked miracles now to re- 
ward virtue, now to punish vice, but always and 
solely in the name of Almighty God. Their 
manifestation of miraculous power was intend- 
ed to prove the mercy, bounty, and omniscience 
of Him Whose servants and representatives 
they were; hence, too, their power of work- 
ing miracles was limited to certain times, or 
to particular circumstances. Not so, however, 
in the case of Jesus Christ. He possessed a 



Faith, The Foundation 39 

miraculous power of His own. Christ speaks 
and acts with the authority of one "in Whom the 
fullness of the Godhead dwelleth corporally." 
The works of Christ have a divine character. 
His miracles are easily recognized as the exte- 
rior manifestation of Divinity Itself; for, without 
regard to hindrance of time, place or distance. 
He disposes over things and persons as only 
their Master and Supreme Lord can. By a 
mere act of His will. He makes five loaves of 
bread and two fishes nourish five thousand peo- 
ple; and, again, ^ "seven loaves of bread and a 
few little fishes" satiate the keen appetites of 
four thousand weary pilgrims. Not only do the 
fish of the Lake of Galilee come together at His 
bidding into the nets of the apostles, but even 
the elements themselves are instantly calmed 
at His word. On another occasion, at His al- 
mighty command, water is changed into wine, 
and, again, wine into His most Precious Blood. 
Christ says but a word and the blind see, the 
lame walk, and the sick are restored to health. 
Yea, even physical contact with Him effects 
miraculous cures; for ^ "as many as touched 
Christ (of those who were sick) were made 
whole." This wonderful healing power, more- 
over, was not restricted to any place or time. 
To the ruler of Capharnaum, for instance, who 
asks Him to come and cure his son from a dan- 



iSt. Matt. 15:34. 2 st. Mark 6:56. 



40 The Palace Beautiful 

gerous fever, Jesus says : ^ "Go thy way, thy son 
liveth"; and "at that same seventh hour, the 
fever left him." To the Centurion who begs that 
his servant may be freed from the palsy, Jesus 
says : ^ "Go and as thou hast believed, so be it 
done to thee; and the servant was healed at the 
same hour." Not only were the sick delivered 
from the cold grasp of death; even the dead 
themselves were restored to life. At Christ's 
almighty word the daughter of Jairus and the 
son of the widow of Naim returned from death 
to life; and to His friend Lazarus, whose mortal 
remains were already in an advanced state of 
decomposition. He says: "Come forth." And 
in the same moment, "he who was dead" stands 
before the wondering crowd alive and well. 
Such is the wonderful power of Jesus Christ 
that not only the visible and material world, but 
also the invisible and spiritual world obeys His 
command. The evil spirits humble themselves 
to the very dust before Him — their Supreme 
Lord; yea, they even beg Him for permission to 
enter a herd of swine. ^ "And they brought to 
Him many who were possessed with devils, and 
He cast out the spirits with His word." 

Christ, moreover, manifested a divine knowl- 
edge. With the greatest sureness and accuracy. 
He prophesied many instances of His passion 
and death. The denial of Peter, for instance, 



1st. John 4:49 sqf. 2 st. Matt 8:13. 3 St. Matt. 8:16. 



Faith, The Foundation 41 

and the betrayal of Judas He knows and fore- 
tells with their minute circumstances. He pre- 
dicted the destruction of Jerusalem and the 
duration of His Church. Again, with the great- 
est clearness and certainty, He Himself asserts 
that He will arise from the dead on the third 
day. And, indeed, if we had no other "sign from 
Heaven" save Christ's glorious resurrection 
from the dead, this alone would suffice to prove 
His divinity. Every one of His numerous 
prophecies were fulfilled to the letter, thus prov- 
ing beyond a shadow of doubt that He possessed 
a knowledge proper to God alone, and, conse- 
quently that He is God. 

Christ's prophecies and miracles give the 
clearest possible testimony that He was what 
He professed to be— a Divine Legate sent by His 
Heavenly Father into the world to redeem man- 
kind and to institute a new form of worship. 
Christ is really the Son of God and the bearer 
of a Supernatural Revelation to man. Every- 
thing He said and did bears the stamp of the 
supernatural. For He possessed the power of 
working miracles and of foretelling the future 
either of Himself, or of the Heavenly Father; in 
either case. He was what He professed to be, 
and Nicodemus argued logically when he said: 
^ "Rabbi, we know that Thou art come a teacher 
from God; for, no man can do these signs (mira- 

iSt. John 3:2. 



42 The Palace Beautiful 

cles) which Thou dost, unless God be with 
Him." 

We have, moreover, not only the indirect tes- 
timony of Christ's miracles and prophecies to 
this effect, but also His own clear statements. 
With words that cannot be misconstrued He 
publicly asserts that He has the divine mission 
to redeem mankind and to perfect the Old Law, 
yea, that He is the Son of God: "I and the 
Father are one." ^ "He that seeth Me, seeth 
the Father also." Again, when asked under oath 
by the high priest whether He be the Son of God, 
Christ answered : ^ "Thou hast said it" And, 
on a former occasion, when about to call 
Lazarus from the dead, He explicitly appealed 
to this resuscitation to life as a proof of His. 
divine mission. And Christ's testimony of Him- 
self was ratified, moreover, by the direct words 
of His Heavenly Father. On the occasions, 
namely, of the baptism of Our Lord and of His 
transfiguration a voice from heaven was dis- 
tinctly heard to say : ^ "This is My beloved Son, 
in Whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him." 

Furthermore, upon Christ's departure from 
this life all Nature seemed to proclaim His di- 
vinity. The Holy Gospels tell us that when Jesus 
was crucified the sun was darkened, the earth 
trembled, the rocks were rent, the graves opened, 
and many of the dead rose to life. Upon seeing 

1st. Jolin 14:9. 2 St. Matt. 26:64. 8 ibid. 3:17. 



Faith, The Foundation 43 

these portentous signs, the centurion gave utter- 
ance to his deep conviction of Christ's divinity 
in the words : ^ "Indeed this was the Son of God." 
And in truth this is the conclusion at which 
every unbiased mind must arrive when read- 
ing the account of Christ's miracles and proph- 
ecies. Yes, Jesus Christ is the Son of God! 
And because He is the Son of God, His mission 
and works are divine. Hence, too, the truths 
He communicated to the One, True, Holy 
Catholic, and Apostolic Church are divine revela- 
tions, and must form the rule of our lives. By 
conforming our lives to the teachings of the 
Roman Catholic Church we conform our life to 
the teaching of Christ Himself, ^ "in whose name 
every knee should bend of those who are in 
heaven, on earth, and under the earth." 

Jesus Christ, "the way, the truth, and the 
life of the world," is no longer visibly present on 
earth to teach and guide mankind. But when 
He was about to ascend into heaven. He com- 
manded His apostles and their successors to 
carry on the work He had inaugurated: — "Up- 
on this rock" — Peter — "I will build my Church, 
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against 
it." "And I will send the Paraclete, and He shall 
recall to your minds whatsoever I have told 
vou." The sum total of truths revealed by Al- 
mighty God for the benefit of all mankind was 



iSt. Matt. 27:54. 2 Philip 2:10. 



44 The Palace Beautiful 

completed at the time of Christ and the apostles, 
who were sent "into the whole world to preach 
the Gospel to every creature." The Catholic 
Church is, therefore, the only divinely author- 
ized guardian and infallible teacher of "the 
truths that came from above." 

At the time of the apostles, a Jewish lawyer, 
Gamaliel by name, said of the Catholic Church : 
"If this work be that of man, it is doomed to 
fail; but if it be of God, it cannot fail." That 
Church has not failed, because it is divine and 
"fated not to die." In spite of the uninterrupted 
persecution of the past nineteen centuries, this 
one true Church of God exists today in all her 
pristine life and vigor. The Catholic Church 
cannot fail, because it has been founded by God. 
Jesus Christ, the Son of God is her founder and 
preserver. Hence, when we accept the teaching 
of the Catholic Church we have the greatest 
certitude obtainable in this world. 

The Catholic Church, which is the one true 
Christianity, is unique among the institutions of 
the world. It alone has the necessary creden- 
tials of a divine religion. 

That there is but one true religion is an his- 
torical fact. He who reads the Sacred Scrip- 
tures correctly will find that the Son of God or- 
ganized only one religious society or church for 
the salvation of mankind. At the Last Supper 
He bade His apostles and their successors in the 



Faith, The Foundation 45 

priesthood to offer sacrifice when He said: ^ "Do 
this for a commemoration of Me." Again, He 
commissioned them to teach the truths of Reve- 
lation: ^"All power," He says, "is given to Me 
in heaven and on earth." ^ "As the Father hath 
sent Me, so I, also, send you." — "Going, there- 
fore, teach ye all nations, baptizing them in the 
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the 
Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all 
things whatsoever I have commanded you." "He 
that heareth you heareth Me and he that despis- 
eth you, despiseth Me." From these and numer- 
ous other passages of Holy Writ we learn that 
our Divine Lord conferred upon the apostles 
and their successors in the priesthood the triple 
office of teacher, priest, and spiritual guide. 

To St. Peter alone, however, Christ said: 
"Feed My lambs, feed My sheep." And again, on 
another occasion. He promises to give the prince 
of the apostles an exclusive and superior power: 
* "I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of 
Heaven," He says, "and whatsoever thou shalt 
bind on earth, it shall be bound also in Heaven, 
and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth it shall 
be loosed also in Heaven." 

From these words, so plain and clear, we 
must conclude that the Divine Founder of the 
Church conferred upon St. Peter and his suc- 
cessors in office supreme legislative power and 

iSt. Luke 22:19. 3 st John 20:21. 

2 St. Matt. 28:18. 4 st. Matt 16:19. 



46 The Palace Beautiful 

infallibility in defining the Word of God. For it 
is evident that the prerogatives granted to St. 
Peter and the other apostles were not to cease at 
their death, but that they w^ere to be communi- 
cated to their successors in the priesthood. Those 
supernatural powers were bestowed upon the 
Church not for a few years or centuries only, but 
for all time. ^ "And behold I am with you all 
days, even to the consummation of the world." 

Were it not for the fall of our jBrst parents 
and its numerous evil consequences to the human 
intellect and will, it would be difficult to account 
for the existence of so many conflicting religious 
sects and creeds. Christ's words in regard 
to the unity of His Church are so clear that they 
cannot be misconstrued by anyone who reads 
them intelligently. To St. Peter, for instance, He 
said: ^ "Thou art Peter; and upon this rock I 
will build My Church/' — not churches. Again, 
He frequently called His Church "a kingdom." 
Now, we cannot conceive how a kingdom that 
would be divided by discord and conflicting 
laws could endure. A kingdom is a unit. In 
every well organized kingdom there is but one 
supreme head, one form of government, and one 
code of laws; hence, in Christ's kingdom — the 
most perfect of all — we must likewise expect 
but one supreme head, one form of government, 
and one uniform body of laws. 

1st. Matt. 28:20. 2 st. John 10:16. 



Faith, The Foundation 47 

Christ, moreover, called His Church "a sheep- 
fold": ^"And there shall be but one fold, and 
one shepherd." His dying prayer was that His 
followers may be one, "as Thou, Father, in Me, 
and I in Thee." Hence, St. Ambrose well says : 
"Where Peter — the supreme shepherd — is, there 
is the Church of Christ." Again, the Church is 
compared by St. Paul with the ^ human body. 
As the members of the human body, he says, are 
intimately united with one and the same head, 
to which they are subject, so are the members 
of the True Church of Christ united with their 
supreme head to whom they are subject in mat- 
ters spiritual. He who gives this matter a little 
of the attention its importance demands shall 
soon come to the conclusion that Jesus Christ 
has established but one Church, which is des- 
tined to last to the end of time; and that this one 
saving Church is none other than the Roman 
Catholic Church — "the pillar and ground of 
truth." As there is but one true God, so there 
can be but one true religion. 

The Catholic Church can prove that she has 
the one true religion, also, by pointing to the 
prophecies contained in the Old and New Testa- 
ments; to her rapid spread, and this in spite of 
her strict code of morals, which ran counter to 
the existing forms of religion; to her perma- 
nence and indefectibility. With laudable pride, 

1st. Matt. 16:18. 2 Rom. 12:4. 

4 



48 The Palace Beautiful 

too, she commemorates the memory of the mil- 
lions who died for the "faith that was in them." 
Men do not easily sacrifice their lives for the 
sake of error and falsehood. And is there a 
single one of her many doctrines and dogmatic 
pronouncements that is erroneous, unreason- 
able, or contrary to sound morals? The Catholic 
Church is, indeed, the most striking fact in the 
history of the world — a "sign set up amongst the 
nations" that cannot fail to rivet the attention 
and excite the enthusiastic admiration of all 
who reflect, and possess good will. 

No man, therefore, can erect a Spiritual 
Temple to God who refuses to hear the Church 
that God has established. The Catholic Church 
is the only divinely authorized teacher of man- 
kind in matters religious. For the Catholic 
Church alone has been commissioned by Jesus 
Christ to preach His Gospel to every creature. 
By her stability, organization, and admirable 
unity the "Mother Church" is easily recognized 
in the world of morals as the one true Church 
of God, against which the powers of hell shall 
not prevail. All the other institutions of the 
earth are subject to decay. The Catholic Church 
alone is unchangeable and indestructible. "And 
behold I am with you all days even unto the 
consummation of the world." The Catholic 
Faith, therefore, must be the foundation of the 
Spiritual House of the Soul. It is not only 



Faith, The Foundation 49 

reasonable to believe in the Catholic Religion, 
but it is unreasonable not to do so. "He who 
has not the Church for his mother," in the 
words of St. Cyprian, "cannot have God for his 
father." If the Catholic Church is not a divine 
institution there is neither a Divine Providence 
nor a God. 

Since faith in the one true religion can be 
strong or weak, the more reasons we have for 
practising this virtue, the stronger will it be. 
Supernatural faith must above all be universal. 
It dare neither deny nor doubt a single dogmatic 
truth. Faith is lost the very instant one calls in 
question God's veracity, or the infallible teach- 
ing authority of the Church. God — the First 
Truth — is the reason why we accept the truths 
of Divine Revelation. Whoever, therefore, calls 
the First Truth in question with regard to any 
one doctrine of Faith virtually denies all super- 
naturally revealed truths; for he who denies 
any such truth whatsoever, disbelieves the ve- 
racity of their common author — God. He, 
on the other hand, who accepts revealed 
truths with the greater firmness, devotion, 
and constancy, possesses the stronger faith; 
and the stronger one's faith, the stronger, also, 
will be the foundation of the Spiritual Edifice 
he erects. 

A living faith — strong, constant and univer- 
sal — must, therefore, animate our entire life. 



50 The Palace Beautiful 

^"The just (man) shall live in his faith." A 
faith that lacks the vivifying principle of super- 
natural life — sanctifying grace — is of course of 
little avail as a foundation. A faith that is dead 
is to the Spiritual Edifice of the Soul what a 
foundation which is dinintegrating is to a mate- 
rial building. "Faith without good works is 
dead." It would be as futile to attempt to con- 
struct a temple to God with a "dead faith" as it 
would be to attempt to build permanently with 
straw and canebrake in muck-soil or quicksand. 
It is a source of consolation to realize from 
the beginning that the material with which we 
are to build, viz: the truths of Divine Revela- 
tion, is all prepared and ready to be placed. 
Every "stone" can be weighed and measured. 
The Temple of God is to rest on and be built up 
of hard, yet most consoling facts and truths. 
We read that the temple of old ^ "was erected, 
when it was building, of stones (which had been 
hewed) and made ready." So, too, the Spiritual 
Edifice unto the living God is to be built of 
"stones hewed and made ready." One by one 
we are to place these stones of adamantine 
strength in their proper place and order. 

^ "Temples and palaces are formed of parts, 
Costly and rare, but all material; 
But in the world of virtue, naught is found 
To mould withal and form into a whole, 

iHab. 2:4. 2 m Kings 6. 

3 Dream of Gerontius — Newman. 



Faith, The Foundation 51 

But what is immaterial, and thus 

The smallest portions of this edifice. 

Cornice, and frieze, and balustrade, and stair, 
The very pavement is made up of life, 

Of holy, blessed^' (deeds and verities). 

The selection and placing of these immaterial 
stones, walls, beams, and columns, the fashion- 
ing and burnishing of what is needed to enclose 
and embellish the edifice, constitutes the great 
work of our probation here on earth. The mate- 
rial offered us must be used wisely and fitted 
together so as to form one complete, harmonious 
whole — The Palace Beautiful. 



3. The Virtues of Humility and Religion 

The foundation of The Palace Beautiful is 
strengthened by the virtues of Christian humility 
and religion. Supernatural faith cannot be prac- 
ticed meritoriously by a proud and irreligious 
person. The deeper one's humility, on the other 
hand, the stronger will be his faith and the 
greater his merit. Now, humility is true self- 
knowledge. This virtue teaches us that we are 
entirely dependent on God. If we consider our- 
selves, for example, in the natural order, what 
are we, or what have we of which we might 
boast or be proud? In regard to our origin we 
are wholly dependent on the Creator's will; we 



52 The Palace Beautiful 

could never have begun to exist of ourselves; 
we ow^e the beginning of our life entirely to 
our Heavenly Father Who called us forth from 
nothingness and infused into us an immortal 
soul, without which we would be but a handful 
of dust and ashes. 

And just as we were unable of ourselves to 
begin to exist, so we are unable of ourselves to 
continue to exist. How clear this becomes if we 
approach the bedside of a dying man ! He may 
perhaps be a man of great wealth and power — 
a man who holds "the rod of empire" over mil- 
lions of subjects. The helps of medical skill 
and the means of prolonging life that wealth, 
power and influence can procure, have all been 
tried in vain. In spite of almost superhuman 
efforts to prolong the man's life, he dies; for, no 
earthly power of any kind can prolong life a 
single second beyond the time allotted by its 
Divine Author. 

Nor need we be witnesses of a deathbed 
scene in order to be convinced of our total de- 
pendence on Almighty God. In the light of our 
natural reason we perceive that we are entirely 
dependent on the Creator in all that we think, 
say, or do. We are not even able to leave the place 
which we now occupy, yea, we cannot as much 
as move a single muscle without the aid of a 
special divine concurrence; for it is in and 
through God that we live, move, and are. Skill, 



Faith, The Foundation 53 

talent, ability, social prestige and temporal pos- 
sessions — all, without exception, is a gift from 
God. It is to God that we owe our bodily 
strength, health, life and everything that we 
possess. No matter what a person's mental and 
physical qualities, or station in life may be, 
man is what he is through the goodness and 
munificence of Divine Providence; and, hence, 
he can have no suflicient reason to exalt him- 
self above his neighbor. ^ "What hast you," asks 
St. Paul, "that thou hast not received; and if 
thou hast received it, why dost thou glory as if 
thou hadst not received it?" 

And if we disregard the empty and trivial 
goods that are valueless in eternity, and con- 
sider our standing in the higher and nobler or- 
der of divine grace, we become even more con- 
vinced of our total dependence on God. All 
that any one may have received in the super- 
natural order is a special favor from the Al- 
mighty. God it is Who has chosen us; not we 
have chosen Him. We have every reason, then, 
to be humble. True self-knowledge, based on 
Revelation, as well as on reason, teaches us that 
we are poor, helpless, insignificant creatures — 
totally dependent upon God, Who created us. 

Humility necessarily deepens and rein- 
forces the jfoundation of the Temple we are to 
build, whilst pride destroys it. The humble 

II Cor. 4:7. 



54 The Palace Beautiful 

person, and he alone, is strong and constant; 
for, such a one rightly believes with St. Paul 
^ "that he can do all things in God who strength- 
ens him." He does not rely upon his own re- 
sources, as does the proud and irreligious man, 
but upon the invincible strength of the Almighty. 
Though assailed by misfortune, and heartbroken 
with grief, he will nevertheless preserve his 
hope and courage; for, in the light of Faith, 
he will accept trials and afflictions as a means 
of atoning for sin. The truly humble man looks 
upon such visitations as his desert, and kisses 
the Hand that scourges him. Humility strips the 
soul of everything petty and displeasing to God, 
and restores it to its pristine beauty and grace. 
The soul of the humble is, in a true sense, a 
tower of strength. The humble, and he alone, 
is truly great: "Where humility is" says the 
Holy Ghost, "there is true greatness." 

The humble man, too, and he alone, prac- 
tices the virtue of religion. He gives his Su- 
preme Lord exterior as well as interior wor- 
ship. Above all does such a person worship 
God by means of a firm, constant, indomitable, 
supernatural faith. "The just man liveth by 
faith." 

But is it not unworthy of an intelligent 
man to lead this kind of life? Is it not 
doing violence to that noble faculty of the 

iPhiUp. 4;13. 



Faith, The Foundation 55 

soul — reason? No! Faith does not extinguish 
or obscure the natural light of reason. It 
increases and perfects it. No truth of Divine 
Revelation can ever be opposed to the logical 
deductions of right reason; for "reasonable 
must be our faith," says the Apostle. ^ "To our 
unaided eye the sun and moon appear about 
the same size, yet the sun is over a million times 
larger than the moon. So God has placed reason 
and faith in the mind; reason, by itself, is a 
guide only for our moral and social conduct as 
citizens of this globe. If ever it places itself 
between man and Faith — intercepting the rays 
which fall from above on him — the soul can no 
longer live the supernatural life of the children 
of light," who are destined to become citizens 
of heaven. 

An act of supernatural faith is a firm ad- 
herence to truth on the authority and veracity 
of God Who revealed it. We must, therefore, 
first have the conviction that God has actually 
revealed truths before we can "believe." — 
^ Francis Arago, one of the greatest scientists of 
the last century, was one day visiting a friend 
of his, the Abbe Moigno. Moigno was himself 
a scientist of international reputation and also 
a Catholic priest, with a faith that only grew 
stronger as his scientific fame advanced. Arago 



1 PhotograpMc Views. — ^Wenninger, S. J., p. 9. 

2 The Liguorian, III, '20, p. 131. 



56 The Palace Beautiful 

became somewhat impatient at the learned 
priest's faith that day, and declared: 'Faith, 
faith! Don't you see that to believe is a deep 
humiliation for a scientist? Why, what else is 
Faith except an avowal that there are truths 
which I cannot grasp, which are greater than 
my mind, which I must admit on the word of 
another.' 'True,' replied the priest, 'but tell me, 
must you not admit that it is a fact as clear as 
the noonday sun, that the mind of man has its 
limits — just the same as the eye's vision has its 
limits?' Arago could not deny the fact. How- 
ever, it was evident that he was not satisfied. 
The learned Abbe saw this. 'Look here,' he 
said; 'only yesterday you were pleased to count 
up for me the wonderful powers of the human 
eye. You showed me how far superior it is to 
all instruments that man's genius ever invented. 
You praised its wonderful receptive power — 
how it can take into its small surface the whole 
horizon; how it can adapt itself in an instant 
to every degree of distance, without a compli- 
cated system of screwing up or down; and so 
on. And yet, he continued, your whole life- 
work seems to be simply a series of denials of 
the perfection of the eye. For you constantly 
proclaim its imperfection by arming it with a 
thousand optical instruments in an attempt to 
improve its power. You use spectacles, micro- 
scopes, telescopes, polariscopes, spectroscopes, 



Faith, The Foundation 57 

and so forth. Why, if the eye is so perfect, then 
break all these instruments!' 'Nonsense,' ex- 
claimed Arago. 'It would be sheer barbarity 
to break all these ingenious instruments that 
multiply and increase the power of the eye.' 
'Good!' said the priest-scientist. 'Would it not 
be equal folly and barbarity, then, to destroy 
faith, which is, after all, only a telescope meant 
to multiply and perfect the power, not of the 
bodily eye, but of the eyes of the soul?'" We 
need the light of supernatural faith, therefore, 
to guide and direct us on the way to our super- 
natural goal — heaven. 

Besides the supernatural virtue of faith, we 
need, moreover, the Gift of the Holy Ghost 
called Understanding. ^ "There are many kinds 
of things," says St. Thomas Aquinas, "that are 
hidden within, to find which human knowledge 
has to penetrate within so to speak. Thus, un- 
der the accidents lies hidden the nature of the 
substantial reality; under words lies hidden 
their meaning; under likenesses and figures lies 
hidden the truth they denote; effects lie hidden 
in their causes, and vice versa. Hence, we may 
speak of understanding with regard to all these 
things." "Since, however, human knowledge be- 
gins with the outside of things as it were, it is 
evident that the stronger the light of the un- 

1 Summa, St. Thomas, Pars II, 2, Qu. 8, a. 1. English trans- 
lation used in this book is that of the "Fathers of the English 
Dominican Province." 



58 The Palace Beautiful 

derstanding, the further can it penetrate into 
the heart of things. Now, the natural light of 
our understanding is of finite power; wherefore 
it can reach only to a certain fixed point. Con- 
sequently man needs a supernatural light, in 
order to penetrate further still so as to know 
what it cannot know by its natural light; and 
this supernatural light which is bestowed on 
man is called the gift of understanding." 

This gift of the Holy Spirit is bestowed upon 
man in order ^ "to enlighten his mind concern- 
ing the things it has heard." It sheds so bright 
a light upon the Revealed Word of God at times 
that it enables man already in this world to gain 
a foretaste of the Beatific Vision. The disciples 
of Emmaus had heard the prophecies concern- 
ing the Sacred Passion, and believed in them; 
but the gift of understanding became operative 
only then when Our Lord explained these re- 
vealed truths. And during the three years' 
preparation of the disciples of Our Lord, He 
again and again "opened the Scriptures to 
them." "The thing understood is bounded by 
the comprehension of him who understands it." 
This comprehension can be a supernatural as 
well as a natural one. "The gift of understand- 
ing is something more excellent than the intel- 
lectual virtue of understanding." It throws a 
divine light upon the things that pertain directly 

1 Moral 1, St. Gregory. 



Faith, The Foundation 59 

to Faith, as well as upon those that are subor- 
dinate to Faith. This kind of knowledge is prac- 
tical no less than speculative, and is essential 
to a virtuous life. For, ^ "the rule of a human 
action is the human reason and the eternal law. 
Now, the eternal law surpasses human reason; 
so that the knowledge of human actions as ruled 
by the eternal law surpasses human reason, and 
requires the supernatural light of the Holy 
Ghost"; and this supernatural light of the Holy 
Ghost is called the Gift of Understanding. God 
does not withhold this divine favor from the 
humble. In a greater or lesser degree every one 
possesses it who is in the state of sanctifying 
grace. "He that foUoweth (the humble Naz- 
arene) walketh not in darkness." 

Now, we follow our Divine Leader by prac- 
ticing the virtue of religion, which inclines the 
human will to obey the divine will. The re- 
ligious man worships God by subjecting his will 
and heart, as well as his memory and under- 
standing, to Him. Man is not to use his religion 
as the cripple does his artificial leg, strapping 
it on, as it were, of a Sunday morning, and, 
upon his return from divine service laying it 
aside for another week. Nor does he falsely 
imagine that "business and religion do not mix." 
When the truly religious man discovers that the 
occupation or business he has entered upon can- 

1 Summa, St. Thomas, II, 2, Qu. 8, a. 3. 



60 The Palace Beautiful 

not be carried on honestly without giving up 
the practice of his religion, he promptly prefers 
Christ to Mammon. In a word, the man who 
possesses the virtue of religion is a Christian 
always, and strives every hour of his life to 
measure up to the standard of morality set 
by Jesus Christ. And from the faithful practice 
of this essential virtue he draws moral strength 
and courage. 

The spirit of irreligion and godlessness, on 
the other hand, weakens and paralyzes the soul. 
Irreligion leads away from everything worth 
while because it leads away from God — the 
source of all blessings. Hear the sad confession 
of a ^man who was persuaded by his infidel pro- 
fessor to abandon his religion : ^ "Never," he 
says, "shall I forget that December evening when 
the veil that had hidden from me my own un- 
belief dropped from before my eyes. Following 
the train of thought that beset me, I went down 
with increasing fear deeper and deeper into my 
own soul; and as my thoughts dispelled, one 
after another, the illusions that had hitherto 
hidden it from my view, I saw more and more 
clearly into its hidden recesses. Terrified at the 
unknown void into which I was drifting, I fell 
back on the recollections of my childhood, of my 
native home, of the faces and forms so dear to 



1 Theodore Jouffroy. 

2 Cf. "Cardinal Mercier's Retreat to His Priests," p. 70. 



Faith, The Foundation 61 

my heart, of all that I loved and held sacred. But 
to no purpose did I struggle; the onrushing cur- 
rent of my thoughts was stronger than all else; 
parents, and home, and fond memories, and 
Faith — every link that bound my soul to the past 
— all was swept away. The ordeal went on, more 
fierce and bitter as it drew to its dreaded term; 
and then, alas! the naked truth stood revealed; 
in the depths of my being ruins alone remained; 
no belief that weathered the storm, nothing sur- 
vived of all I had once believed about my own 
soul and God, about my destiny in this life and 
in the next. I rejected it all, for I rejected the 
authority on which I had received it. This 
authority I could not longer admit; I cast it 
from me. Those hours were terrible; and when 
towards mornings I threw myself exhausted on 
my bed, I felt that my earlier life, so cheerful 
and so full, was extinguished; that another, 
gloomy and lonely, had opened up before me, a 
life whose paths I was doomed to tread alone, 
alone with the blighting thoughts that had 
driven me to it, thoughts that I was tempted to 
curse bitterly in my heart. Never had I so fully 
realized the importance of the problems of life, 
as now when I had lost the solution of them. 
I was an infidel, yet I hated infidelity. . . . Find- 
ing this uncertainty about the enigma of human 
life unbearable, and having no longer the light 
of Faith to illumine it for me, I had to fall 



62 The Palace Beautiful 

back on the light of reason. I resolved to devote 
all my time, my v^hole life if necessary, to the 
study of this supreme question; and in this way 
I was led to philosophical research. For a while 
I succeeded in persuading myself that I was 
treading a sure and well-defined path towards 
positive knowledge of those things that, above 
all others, concern man most intimately. . . . 
But all philosophy seemed sunk in a deep cave 
where there was no air, so that my soul, so 
recently exiled from Christianity, was like to 
suffocate." How could it be otherwise? The 
practice of the Christian religion binds the soul 
to God — the Eternal Truth and Supreme Good; 
irreligion, on the other hand, deprives the soul 
of God, and plunges it into the abyss of despair. 
In their luminous Pastoral the bishops of 
the United States have sounded a note of warn- 
ing against the many dangers that threaten 
Supernatural Faith. They emphasize, too, the 
pious reading of the Sacred Scriptures as a 
means of strengthening our faith. ^"The fact 
that unbelief is so common," the Pastoral says, 
"that firm and definite teaching of Christian 
truths is so often replaced by vague, uncertain 
statements, and that even these are left to indi- 
vidual preference for acceptance or rejection — 
the fact, in a word, that by many faith is no 



1 Pastoral Letter of the ArchlDishops and Bishops of the 
United States. — September, 1919. 



Faith, The Foundation _63 

longer regarded as of vital consequence in re- 
ligion, should the more determine us to 'watch, 
stand fast in the faith, do manfully and be 
strengthened.' While we must needs look with 
sorrow upon the decay of positive belief, let us 
recognize, with gratitude, the wisdom of Him 
Who, being the 'author and finisher of our faith' 
established in His Church a living authority to 
'teach all nations, teaching them to observe all 
things whatsoever I have commanded you.' " 

"The Catholic who appreciates the blessing 
of faith and the sacrifices which generous men 
and women in all ages have made to preserve 
it, will take heed to himself and beware of the 
things whereby some "have made shipwreck 
concerning the faith." For this disaster is usu- 
ally the end and culmination of other evils, of 
sinful habits, of neglect of prayer and the sacra- 
ments, of cowardice in the face of hostility to 
one's belief, of weakness in yielding to the 
(worldly) wisdom of kindred or friends, of 
social ambition and the hope of advantage in 
business or public career." 

"More subtle are the dangers arising from 
an atmosphere in which unbelief is mingled 
with culture and gentle refinement, or in which 
the fallacy spreads that Faith is hopelessly at 
variance with scientific truth. To counteract 
these influences, it is necessary that they who 
love the truth of Christ, should 'the more and 



64 The Palace Beautiful 

more abound in knowledge and in all under- 
standing.' As they advance in years, they should 
lay firmer hold upon the teachings of religion 
and be prepared to explain and defend them. 
They will thus 'continue in faith, grounded and 
settled and immovable from the hope of the 
Gospel,' ready always to give a 'reason for that 
hope that is in them,' and if needs be, to 'con- 
tend earnestly for the Faith once delivered to 
the saints.' " 

"To the Church, which is taught all truth by 
the Holy Spirit, Christ entrusted the whole de- 
posit of Divine Revelation. To the watchful 
care of the Church we owe the preservation of 
that Book from which Christians in every age 
have derived instruction and strength. How 
needful was the warning of the Apostle that 'no 
prophecy of Scripture is made by private inter- 
pretation,' appears in the history of those move- 
ments which began by leaving each individual 
to take his own meaning from the sacred text, 
and now, after four centuries, have ended in re- 
jecting its divine authority. The Church, on 
the contrary, with true reverence for the Bible 
and solicitude for the spiritual welfare of its 
readers, has guarded both it and them against 
the dangers of false interpretation. In the same 
spirit we exhort you to acquire a loving famil- 
iarity with the written word; 'for what things 
soever were written, were written for our learn- 



Faith, The Foundation 65 

ing, that through patience and the comfort of 
the Scriptures we might have hope.' This inti- 
mate knowledge of Holy Writ will bring you 
close to the person and life of our Savior and to 
the labors of His Apostles. It will renew in 
your hearts the joy with which the first Chris- 
tians received the tidings of salvation. And it 
will deepen in you the conviction that the Scrip- 
tures are indeed the word of God, 'which can in- 
struct you unto salvation by the faith which is 
in Christ Jesus' — a conviction which cannot be 
shaken either by the disputations of the learned 
who 'stumble at the word,' or by the errors of 
the unlearned and unstable who wrest the Scrip- 
tures 'to their own destruction.' " It is, then, 
by the practice of Christian humility and the 
virtue of religion that one develops a firm, con- 
stant, living faith, and builds an indestructible 
foundation for The Palace Beautiful. 



CHAPTER II 

HOPE, THE SUPERSTRUCTURE OF THE PALACE BEAU- 
TIFUL — REQUISITES OF A FIRM HOPE 



1. A Good Conscience 

THE foundation of the Temple of God is 
Faith. Its superstructure is erected by the 
practice of Christian Hope. In order that one 
can have a firm hope in God, however, he must 
have a good conscience, i. e., he must "will to do 
what is right." 

Among the creatures of God here on earth, 
man alone possesses the light of conscience and 
Revelation, and by following this light he can 
secure a firm hope of eternal bliss; "Heaven 
and earth shall pass away, but my word shall 
not pass away." God has given His promise 
that He shall be the just man's reward, exceed- 
ing great. Already in this world we can, in a 
limited way, gain possession of God. ^ "You are 
the temple of the Living God." ^ "Know you 
not that you are the temple of God, and that 
the spirit of God dwelleth in you?" Herein lies 
man's highest prerogative, and true greatness. 
Ry divine grace we are destined to become 
"Temples of the Living God." 

Ill Cor. 6:16. 21 Car. 3:16. 

66 



Hope, The Superstructure 67 

To build a spiritual "Temple of God" is, 
therefore, the life-work of every rational crea- 
ture on earth. That we build a spiritual abode 
of some kind is not a matter of choice, but one 
of necessity. Build we must, whether We will it 
or not; for "no man can serve two masters." 
Which shall it be? A "Temple of God," or an 
abode of Satan? Surely, no sane man wishes 
to live separated from God, and under the do- 
minion of his own arch-enemy. Who would be 
so foolish as to keep his heart closed to the 
Supreme Good and throw it wide open to the 
most miserable creature alive? Now, what 
means must be used in order to rear a spiritual 
house of the soul worthy of our Supreme Lord 
and God? 

No one can expect to gain possession of God 
by making Him an enemy. Now, man makes 
God an enemy and chooses Satan for his master 
by doing what is evil. If we wish to have God 
as our friend, we must "avoid evil and do good." 
The will to do good or "to do what is right" is 
contrary to a wicked and perverse will. And is 
there a man alive who does not "believe in 
doing what is right" ? 

But how are we to know what is right? Can 
we distinguish right from wrong? And having 
discerned the difference, is it always in our 
power to avoid evil and do good? It is a most 
consoling and, at the same time, a very serious 



68 The Palace Beautiful 

reflection that all our deliberate thoughts, 
words, and actions, are either good or bad, de- 
serving of a reward or a punishment. There 
is no such thing as a deliberate thought, word, 
or deed, which is at the same time morally in- 
different. God has given us a means of learn- 
ing, at all times, and under all circumstances. 
His will in our regard. Man is not constituted 
like the brute animal which is under the do- 
minion of blind instinct. We are not doomed to 
grope about in spiritual darkness, slaves to pas- 
sion and sensual appetite, as are the irrational 
creatures. No, we are endowed with the light 
of reason and liberty of will. By means of this 
intellectual light, we can discern our Creator's 
will, which is made known by a practical dictate 
of reason called conscience. 

Conscience is not an expression of blind im- 
pulse or of inordinate passion. It is not a moral 
weather-phane, but an act of the intellect, and, 
consequently, it is to be governed by the uner- 
ring laws of truth and logic. So long, there- 
fore, as we are in doubt with regard to the 
moral aspect of a course of action to be pursued 
or avoided, conscience bids us seek greater 
knowledge, and, thus to "enlighten the eyes of 
our heart" in order that we may "know to re- 
fuse the evil and choose the good." Con- 
science is a deliberate judgment, which tells 
us that a thing ought to be done because it 



Hope, The Superstructure 69 

is good; or again, that something ought not to 
be done because it is evil. Human reason has 
been endowed with this power in order that 
every individual might at all times know God's 
will. Even a child has it. Its conscience plainly 
tells the child that it is wrong, for example, to 
lie; and when it disobeys this "voice of God," 
its confusion indicates the remorse of a "guilty 
conscience." Whilst a good child's habitual joy 
and peace of mind is due chiefly to its "good con- 
science." The savage, too, who never heard or 
read of the Seventh Commandment of the 
Decalogue, knows that it is wrong to steal; and 
if he w^ere caught in the act of taking something 
against the will of its lawful possessor he cer- 
tainly would never think of justifying himself; 
for, his conscience would tell him that he has 
wronged his neighbor and deserves punishment 
for it. 

Whether a perpetrated wrong is made known 
or not, conscience is sure to avenge it some- 
time. No man can lend a deaf ear to con- 
science or attempt to silence this divinely ap- 
pointed witness and go unpunished. "No wit- 
ness is so terrible," says the Pagan philosopher 
Polybius, "no accuser so powerful as conscience 
which dwells in the breast of man." Nor is there 
a witness more just. Through conscience virtue 
becomes its oWn reward, and vice its own 
punishment. 



70 The Palace Beautiful 

^'^Good-by," I said to my Conscience— 
"Good-by for aye and aye''; 

And I put her hands off harshly, 
And turned my face away; 

And Conscience, smitten sorely. 
Returned not from that day. 

"But a time came when my spirit 

Grew weary of its pace; 
And I cried, "Come back, my Conscience, 

I long to see thy face''; 
But Conscience cried— "I cannot— 

Remorse sits in my place." 



^••■ ;• 



No matter whether there be another witness 
to a crime or not, conscience alone is able to 
drive the guilty from the face of God, as it did 
the first criminal — Cain. A bad and wicked 
conscience will eventually bring the sinner 
either to despair, as it did Judas, or to the feet 
of the Savior, as it did Magdalen. 

The criminal may be able, perhaps, after 
years of desperate combat, to silence for a time 
this dread monitor in his bosom, and to experi- 
ence, thereafter, a kind of interior peace; but 
it will be the peace of spiritual death. Such a 
man resembles a "painted sepulchre" — without, 
fair and white; within, filth and corruption. 
Even though sin and vice should gain the upper 
hand in this world and silence conscience en- 
tirely, in eternity it is sure to revive; for, ^ "wick- 

1 Conscience and Remorse. — Dunbar. z-vViisd. 17:10. 



Hope, The Superstructure 71 

edness is fearful; it beareth witness of its con- 
demnation." The outraged conscience of the 
wicked is that worm of which Our Lord says, 
"that it dieth not, and that it gnaweth at the 
hearts" of the wicked forever. 

A good conscience, on the other hand, is a 
source of present happiness and of eternal bliss. 
Hear what the saintly Thomas a Kempis has to 
say of a good conscience : ^ "Son, the glory of a 
man is the testimony of a good conscience. Keep 
a good conscience and you will always have joy. 
A good conscience can bear very much and is 
very joyful in the midst of adversity; a bad 
conscience is fearful and uneasy. Sweetly wilt 
thou take thy rest if thy heart reprehend thee 
not." 

"Conscience," adds Cardinal Newman, "is 
not a long-sighted selfishness nor a desire to 
be consistent with one's self, but it is a message 
from Him who, both in nature and grace, speaks 
to us behind a veil and teaches and rules us 
by His representative. Conscience is the aborig- 
inal vicar of Christ, a prophet in its informa- 
tion, a monarch in its peremptoriness, a priest 
in its blessings and anathemas, and even though 
the eternal priesthood throughout the Church 
should cease to be, in it the sacerdotal prin- 
ciple would remain and would have sway." 

By means of conscience we enter into close 



1 Following of Christ— Bk. Ill, Ch. 6. 



72 The Palace Beautiful 

communication with the Infinite One, Who can 
neither deceive nor be deceived. Let us not at- 
tempt to act a double part. If we wish to build 
a Temple of God, let us begin right, and fre- 
quently pray, "Speak, Lord, Thy servant hear- 
eth." Only such as do this can have Christian 
hope, for a good conscience is an essential requi- 
site of Christian hope. No one can confidently 
expect the reward of heaven whose conscience 
tells him that he is not fulfilling the necessary 
conditions to obtain life everlasting. If we wish 
the promised reward let us establish a just claim 
on it by rendering faithful and conscientious 
service. 

What shall I do to gain eternal life? 

Discharge aright 
The simple dues with which each day is rife? 

Yea, with thy might. 
Ere perfect scheme of action thou devise 

Will life be fled; 
While he who ever acts as Conscience cries, 

Shall live, though dead. 

—Schiller. 

2. Belief in Divine Providence 

Having laid and reinforced the foundation 
of the Spiritual House of God, it remains now 
by means of Hope and Charity to build and 
adorn the superstructure. Its dimensions will 
be in proportion to the amount of Christian 



Hope, The Superstructure 73 

hope that animates the builder; the more one 
hopes from God, the more he will obtain. 
^"Christian Hope is the confident expectation 
of all those things which Christ promised us 
with regard to the fulfillment of God's will." 
When looking backward the man of hope is 
not dismayed by the sight of sin and failure; 
for it assures one that God is readier to forgive 
than the sinner is to be forgiven. The more 
numerous the offenses the greater need of hope 
in "God's mercy," which "is above all His 
works." Hope reminds the sinner that God is 
glorified the more by the manifestation of the 
greater mercy. "There is more joy in heaven 
over one sinner who doth penance than over 
ninety-nine that need not penance." It presses 
forward with courage and fortitude to ever 
greater triumphs; with St. Paul it exclaims "I 
can do all things in Him that strengtheneth 
me." 

Now, how are we to secure and increase the 
virtue of Christian Hope? Christian, or super- 
natural hope is a free gift of God infused into 
the soul in baptism. The exercise of this virtue 
is based on supernatural faith, for it implies be- 
lief in an infinitely good and all-powerful God. 
2 "Faith," says St. Paul, "is the substance of 
things to be hoped for." We practise the virtue 



iThe Catechism Explained. — Spirago-Clark, pp. 274, sqq. 
2Hebr. 11:1. 



74 The Palace Beautiful 

of Christian hope when we have the firm expec- 
tation of all those things promised us by Christ, 
with regard to the fulfillment of God's will. 

The primary object of Christian hope is eter- 
nal happiness. This blessed good must, there- 
fore, appear possible of attainment before one 
can have hope in its regard. But is it possible 
for every one to obtain eternal salvation? Can 
every human being hope for life everlasting 
with God? Are all men really destined to be 
eternally happy? Nothing is more certain than 
the fact that God has created us for the en- 
joyment of eternal bliss. That we may and 
should hope for eternal happiness is a postulate 
of reason, as well as a revealed truth of God. 

What gravitation is in the material order, 
that is the desire for perfect happiness in the 
spiritual order. This longing of our nature to 
be happy is universal in the rational order as 
gravitation is in the material order. So strong 
is this innate tendency of human nature, that 
no one can ever wish to be unhappy. This 
natural and universal desire of the human heart 
must, therefore, have an object that will fully 
satisfy it. And this object is none other than 
God — the Supreme Good. ^"God will have all 
men to be saved." 

From eternity our Heavenly Father has di- 
rected all things to this one end. Before we ex- 

II Timothy 2:4. 



Hope, The Superstructure 75 

isted, before we were able to think or to act, 
God in His goodness thought of us and loved 
us. As the yet unpainted scene exists in the 
mind of the artist, so, in an infinitely more per- 
fect manner, did we exist in the mind of God 
from all eternity; for, He says': ^"I have loved 
thee with an everlasting love." In His provi- 
dent care, ^ "He chose us from the foundation 
of the world." From eternity He has prepared 
a dwelling for us in paradise. ^"Come ye 
blessed of My Father, possess ye the kingdom 
prepared for you from the foundation of the 
world." 

Divine Providence, too, teaches us to have a 
firm hope in God. By Divine Providence is 
meant Almighty God's care in preserving and 
governing the world. There are those who ad- 
mit the existence of a Supreme Being, but deny 
that this Supreme Being watches over and cares 
for the world. Thus the God of the Pagan phi- 
losopher Aristotle does not trouble himself about 
the world, but lets it shift for itself. The Chris- 
tian, however, firmly believes that God not only 
created the world, but likewise has present care 
of it. 

In order to recognize and understand the ad- 
mirable workings of Divine Providence one dare 
not take a narrow and mole-like aspect of 
creation. If we view the universe intelligently 

iJerem. 31:3. 2 Eph. 1:4. 3 Matt. 25:34. 



76 The Palace Beautiful 

and religiously we can easily perceive that all 
things created have a purpose, and that all 
things without exception are actually directed, 
according to their nature, toward the attain- 
ment of the purpose assigned to them by the 
Almighty. Every creature in the universe pro- 
claims the glory of God. All creation is gov- 
erned by a loving Providence, that "disposeth 
all things sweetly and reacheth from end to end 
mightily." Whether we look above us or around 
us, we everywhere discover an exquisite design, 
harmony, and beauty. 

Behold, for example, the heavenly spheres. 
What a superb spectacle is the starry firmament 
with its myriads of twinkling gems! In spite 
of their great distances, volumes and velocity, 
these celestial orbs are under the guidance of 
a Sovereign Ruler, Who "has ordered all things 
in number, measure, and weight." Is it not 
wonderful, e. g., that eclipses and transits can 
be foretold with the greatest accuracy many 
centuries in advance? ^The meeting and pass- 
ing of two heavenly spheres, at a distance of 
many millions of miles apart, can be reckoned 
to the very second. And why? Because they 
are under the guidance of God's Providence. 
Verily, when contemplating the world above us, 
we are prompted to exclaim with the royal 
Psalmist, "the heavens show forth the glory 

1 Cf. "Our Palace Wonderful." — By the Author, p. 58, sqq. 



Hope, The Superstructure 77 

of God, and the firmament the works of His 
hands." 

^In heaven's crystal windows 
Beyond earth's blue dome 
God sets up nightly candles 
To light His children home. 

And here on earth we find that a Divine 
Providence is everywhere plainly discernible. 
By their very nature and constitution we see 
that lifeless creatures are intended by Almighty 
God to serve and promote the welfare of those 
that possess life. The largest inanimate object 
in our immediate vicinity is the earth. We 
know that from the very dawn of creation this 
globe was intended for man. From the begin- 
ning it was chosen and prepared by the Heaven- 
ly Father to be the temporal abode of His chil- 
dren. And because the earth was made subservi- 
ent to creatures that are endowed with life, 
these are intended to thrive on its ruins. ^ "It 
is a beautiful fact," says Professor Shaler, "that 
the greatest ruin the world knows, the decay of 
the continents themselves, should give us the 
foundation on which to rest all the higher life 
of the world." In fact, all material things in the 
visible world are directed to sustain the life of 
man, beast, and plant. This is why Divine Provi- 
dence has singled out this little globe of ours, 

iRev. B. Schwinn, O. S. B. 

2 First Book in Geology — Shaler, p. 29. 



78 The Palace Beautiful 

and surrounded it with an atmosphere. ^ "The 
air, as it were, is a blanket protecting the liv- 
ing creatures of the earth against the severe 
cold which reigns continually about ten miles 
from the earth's surface." 

We often wonder at the disturbances of the 
atmosphere, the terrific violence of wind-storms, 
and sudden changes of temperature. The Al- 
mighty has meted out its strength and velocity 
to every storm. In His infinite knowledge and 
wisdom He permits the winds to go so far and 
no farther. Those, therefore, who decry the 
changes of weather, effected by the atmospheric 
phenomena and the motion of the earth, show 
thereby that they do not understand the econ- 
omy of nature. Without the air and its accom- 
panying changes, life would be as impossible 
here on earth as it is on the moon. 

Again, you will sometimes hear shallow- 
minded people blasphemously declaim against 
volcanoes: "Why," they will ask, "has the Al- 
mighty created such instruments of death and 
destruction?" Yet the loss of life and damage 
to property wrought by the eruptions of vol- 
canoes is an incomparably less evil than the 
benefits they confer upon mankind. A volcanic 
eruption which, at first thought, seems so dread- 
ful to us, brings to the surface of the earth the 
CO2 so much needed by every living creature on 



1 First Book in Geology — Shaler, p. 60. 



Hope, The Superstructure 79 

earth. God it is Who thus providently cares for 
the creatures He has endowed with life. There 
is nothing superfluous or without some useful 
end in the economy of inanimate nature. 

And how charmingly has Almighty God 
adorned this temporal home of ours with flowers 
and vegetation. What a loving Providence is 
displayed in the preservation and propagation 
of plants and trees. Every region on the globe 
has its own peculiar plantal life adapted to the 
needs of its inhabitants. And what an immense 
variety ! Some plants and trees are required by 
man as a means of sustenance. Others afford 
him the necessary material with which he can 
protect himself against the winter's blast. Again, 
others seem to have been created for the sole 
purpose of rejoicing the heart of man. Whether 
we view the flowers in their variegated tints and 
colors as a portion of the vegetable kingdom, or 
in detail, is not the hand of a loving Father al- 
ways and ever visible? How strikingly clear do 
the words of the Savior become, as we contem- 
plate these "remnants of paradise:" "Consider 
the lilies of the field, how they grow; they labor 
not, neither do they spin; but I say to you, that 
not even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed as 
one of these." And who has arrayed the lilies 
and painted the flowers? The same beneficent 
Father Who has adorned the ceiling of our home 
with the millions of bright gems that charm us 

6 



80 The Palace Beautiful 

on a beautiful starlit night. A munificent Provi- 
dence has created all things, and now preserves 
and governs them. 

^Wlien woods are quick with music 

And poets stirred to song, 
When angels wake the roses 

As the bright May moves along— 
There, caught in sunny breezes, 

The flowers toss and nod— 
How they smile to us of heaven. 

How they sing to us of God! 

So, too, we discern a well-defined Providence 
among those higher creatures that are not rooted 
to the soil, but who have the power to move 
about, and to seek their nourishment at will. 
Who is able to count the great number, or clas- 
sify the endless variety of birds and animals! 
Were man obliged to provide for them all, the 
greater number of them would soon die of star- 
vation. A picture quite common among Chris- 
tian nations represents the sky with a hand 
stretched forth through the clouds, about to 
give something, as it were, to those beneath. 
The significance of this beautiful picture is evi- 
dent. It represents the Hand of our Heavenly 
Father which is ever stretched forth to fill all 
the earth with benediction. He it is that 
furnishes nourishment to the life He has given. 

1 Sister Caxmellte. 



Hope, The Superstructure 81 

Even though man be unmindful of the lower 
animals that have been created to serve him, 
Almighty God is not. 

So far-reaching is our Heavenly Father's be- 
nign Providence over irrational creatures that 
He provides them all with suitable food and 
raiment according to the condition and season in 
which they are living. In autumn, those that are 
destined to spend the winter in the far north, 
are clothed with a coat of fur, wool, or thick 
hair; whilst others that are intended for a warm 
climate are directed to the sunny south. When 
we thus contemplate the work of Divine Provi- 
dence in behalf of His animate creatures, we 
clearly perceive the truth of Our Lord's words': 
"Behold the birds of the air for they neither sow, 
nor do they reap, nor gather into barns, and 
your Heavenly Father feedeth them." All liv- 
ing creatures without exception are under the 
protection of an all-wise Providence, that hath 
"created the little and the great, and hath 
equally care of all!" Should this fact not in- 
spire us with unbounded hope in the goodness 
and bounty of our benevolent Father? For, after 
pointing out the provident care Almighty God 
takes of the vegetable and animal kingdoms by 
alluding to the lilies of the field and the birds of 
the air. Our Lord concludes with the words: 
Are not you of much more value than they? 

1 St. Matt, Ch. VI. 26 and 27. 



1 «« 



82 The Palace Beautiful 

Which of you by taking thought can add to his 
stature one cubit?" 

And surely our Heavenly Father has proved 
that we in particular are more in His sight than 
the lilies of the field and the birds of the air. 
Whilst relatives, friends, and acquaintances 
have been called from time to eternity, our 
life here on earth has been preserved and 
rejoiced. Perhaps, too, at the present moment, 
whilst countless thousands are being racked on 
their bed of pain, we are enjoying robust health 
and strength. 

But most of all is the goodness and bounty 
of Divine Providence discernible in the super- 
natural order. Ah, who can count the spiritual 
favors showered upon the members of the one 
true Church to which we have the grace of be- 
longing ? If we consider no other spiritual gift save 
that of the true Faith, surely we must exclaim 
in the gratitude of our hearts that this alone 
constitutes the "pearl beyond price" spoken of 
in the Gospel. And this priceless good has been 
bestowed upon us without any merit of our own. 
Yea, more, the Son of God Himself deigns to 
become the very food of our souls; for He is 
ever ready to refresh us with His Precious Blood, 
and to strengthen us with His Own Flesh. There 
is, then, a Divine Providence directing all things 
in a manner that every human being, in spite of 
a perverse nature, or corrupt environment, can 



Hope, The Superstructure 83 

yet enjoy true peace and save his soul. And the 
more we strive to co-operate with God's loving 
designs, the more of His protection and assist- 
ance shall we obtain. 

No one, however, can reckon on God's Provi- 
dence who does not strive to do the divine will. 
He who is destined to work out his salvation in 
a particular manner will be under the special 
guidance of Providence only whilst he corres- 
ponds with his vocation. Not every one, of 
course, has the same vocation. One is called by 
Almighty God to embrace this state of life, the 
other that one. Each has his own vocation and 
must fulfill the work assigned him if he wishes 
to please God, enjoy a special Providence, and 
attain to eternal salvation. We may expect to 
have a firm Christian hope only when we follow 
the inspirations of divine grace and co-operate 
with God's holy will in our regard. When we 
strive to know and do God's holy will, we shall 
experience the loving guidance and protection 
of Divine Providence, which will safely conduct 
us through the trials and storms of life unto our 
true home — heaven. 

It is for life supernal and everlasting that 
man has been created. Almighty God has 
directed everything to that blessed end. All 
things whatsoever there are here on earth are 
meant to be subservient to man's eternal hap- 
piness. After creating man, God gave him 



84 The Palace Beautiful 

^ "dominion over the fishes of the sea, the fowls 
of the air, and the beasts and the whole earth." 
Thus God provided for man in the beginning, 
and thus will He continue to do; for, it is to God 
that we owe our preservation as well as our 
creation. His love is continually active through- 
out the entire universe for our real welfare. He 
it is Who sets limits to the ocean, checks the 
force of the winds, and wards off calamities. It 
is God Who regulates the seasons. Who sends 
sunshine and rain, and ripens the fruits of the 
field. Even now He is providing what is to 
serve us as future food and raiment. That we 
are able to live, breathe, and move about is 
owing to God's goodness. Who gives us the 
necessary bodily strength to do so. He is our 
nearest and best friend, ever aiding us in the 
great work of our salvation. As the ray of 
light penetrates glass and becomes one with 
it, so God exists in us, and we in Him; for "in 
Him we live and move and are." We are the 
object of His constant solicitude. "He hath 
created the little and the great, and hath equally 
care of all." 

But God, Whose provident care over His 
creatures is so far-reaching that "not a sparrow 
falls from the roof without Him," has gone still 
further in regard to the spiritual welfare of man. 
In order to facilitate our salvation God has given 

1 Gen. 1 :26. 



Hope, The Superstructure 85 

every human being a guide to admonish and 
protect him; ministering angels hath He ^ "sent, 
to minister for them who shall receive the inher- 
itance of salvation." God has not left man to 
grope about on dark paths, but in His boundless 
goodness He has surrounded him with the 
bright light of Divine Revelation, manifesting 
Himself through the prophets of the Old Testa- 
ment and the apostles of the New. These, and 
their successors, he exhorts to "go and teach all 
nations," and to cleanse them from sin in the 
salutary waters of baptism. To further the work 
of our eternal salvation is the end of the one 
true, holy, and apostolic Church, which, like a 
tender-hearted mother, takes us by the hand, lest 
perchance we dash our foot against a stone, and 
leads us heavenward. The Church bids us be- 
hold the Saints — our elder brothers and sisters 
in heaven — and promises to lead us, also, to that 
happy goal if we but follow. And it is by means 
of Christian hope, infused into the soul in 
baptism, that man can look forward with con- 
fidence to the attainment of that blessed reward. 

3. CoNFmENCE IN God's Mercy 

In order to strengthen our hope let us now 
consider what the Son of God has done for us 
in the Redemption. Nowhere is the infinite 



iHebr. 1:14. 



86 The Palace Beautiful 

mercy of God so clearly manifest as in the 
Sacred Passion. Let us, then, accompany Our 
Divine Savior on His blood-stained path to 
Calvary. It is the evening before He purchased 
our salvation at the price of His Precious Blood. 
After the Last Supper, Jesus rose, with a heavy 
heart, and proceeded to the Garden of Olives, 
a place just outside the walls of Jerusalem. Here 
we find Him lying prostrate on the ground, and 
forsaken by His nearest and dearest friends. A 
terrible agony has quite overcome Him. He 
looks about Him for help and consolation, yet 
finds Himself quite alone. No, not alone! For 
He sees there before Him in the terrible vision 
which has haunted Him for the past hour, the 
combined powers of hell. Every crime and 
every vice, every sin that has ever been or ever 
shall be committed, is there represented by a 
foul spirit from hell. Afraid of losing the least 
share of their booty, the powers of darkness 
rush upon the Innocent Lamb of God — Our Di- 
vine Mediator — like so many ravenous wolves 
upon their prey. 

What wonder, then, that Our Lord falls ex- 
hausted to the ground, weighed down by the 
crushing burden of our sins. Upon seeing the 
indescribable torments which the powers of hell 
are about to inflict, His Sacred Blood is forced 
by His palpitating Heart through the very pores 
of His body. As if quite unmanned by the awful 



Hope, The Superstructure 87 

propitiation which an Infinite Justice required, 
Jesus prays : "Father, if it be possible, let this 
chalice pass from Me." But, rousing Himself the 
same instant to a God-like act of love and self- 
sacrifice. He adds: "Yet not My will be done, 
but Thine." And now, being strengthened and 
consoled by a messenger from Heaven, He ma- 
jestically rises, and deliberately goes to meet the 
cohort of soldiers sent to take Him prisoner. 

Scarcely had Jesus reached the exit of the 
Garden of Gethsemane when He was met by a 
former disciple. One of His own apostles, a 
man whom He had for the past three years per- 
sonally instructed in the salutary truths of 
eternal life, is the very first to turn traitor. Oh, 
what base ingratitude! How it must have cut 
Our Dear Lord to the quick to be thus betrayed 
and sold by one of those favored few whom He 
Himself had chosen — whom He had selected 
from amongst millions to be the bearers of "Good 
Tidings" to men. And yet Jesus rebukes him 
not, nor does He refuse the proffered kiss of that 
instrument of Satan. No, His boundless love 
and mercy towards man are too great. He is 
still ready to forgive. Hence, he warmly greets 
Judas and strives once more with the tenderness 
of a mother to win back that erring child. 
"Judas," he says, "dost thou betray the Son of 
Man with a kiss?" But in vain is this loving 
reminder of His omniscient and infinite mercy. 



88 The Palace Beautiful 

The powers of hell are permitted for the time 
being to run riot, and the covetous Judas has 
fallen an easy victim. 

After He had been betrayed by Judas, Jesus 
manifested His divine power by working several 
miracles, and then suffered Himself to be hur- 
ried before the high priest. Here, another bitter 
experience is to fall to His lot. A bosom friend, 
one upon whom Jesus had lavished His choicest 
prerogatives, forsakes and denies His Divine 
Master. Three times does Peter, the prince of 
the apostles, aver with an oath that "he knows 
not the man." Thus apparently abandoned by 
God and man Jesus is pushed and jerked into 
the council-chamber of the high priest. During 
the cross-examination which followed, another 
and a viler insult is offered Our Divine Savior. 
A hireling of a soldier, in order to win the good 
graces of the Jewish Council, steps forward, 
raises his brawny arm and strikes Jesus a sting- 
ing blow in the face. Oh, let us reflect on the 
baseness of this act, and on the greatness of 
Christ's love in suffering it. A vile creature de- 
liberately strikes his Lord and Creator, and 
Jesus patiently accepts the cruel and sacrilegious 
blow. Verily, boundless must be the love that 
can endure such an outrage! 

Yet, this does not satisfy the exhaustless pa- 
tience and love of Jesus. Without a murmur. 
He permits Himself to be brought before the 



Hope, The Superstructure 89 

Roman governor, Pontius Pilate. This cringing 
victim of human respect tries one expedient 
after the other to shift the responsibility of 
Christ's condemnation. In his fruitless endeavor 
to silence the rebukes of his revolting conscience, 
he vacillates between the favor of God on the 
one hand, and that of man on the other. Think- 
ing that the Jews would surely prefer to have 
the innocent Jesus acquitted rather than set at 
liberty a cold-blooded murderer, Pilate proposes 
to liberate either Jesus or Barabbas; to his 
utter dismay, however, Christ's enemies clamor 
for the release of Barrabbas and for the blood 
of Jesus. Pilate, thereupon, tries another expe- 
dient, and has Christ scourged, and then crowned 
with thorns. But even the pitiable spectacle of 
Jesus held in derision and wounded from head 
to foot does not satisfy the bitter animosity of 
those blood-thirsty barbarians; with one accord 
they shout, "His blood be upon us and upon our 
children." The rabble has scarcely heard the 
sentence of death against Jesus when they rush 
upon Him like so many half-starved blood- 
hounds, each striving to out-do the other in 
cruelty. "Away with Him!" they cry. "Away 
with Him!" "Crucify Him!" "Crucify Him!" A 
couple of heavy beams are now hurriedly 
brought and thrown upon the wounded 
shoulders of their reviled victim. Away they 
now start amid the jeers and revengeful shouts 



90 The Palace Beautiful 

of the many-headed monster to Calvary's height. 
From all sides cries of scorn and derision are 
hurled against the "mock-king." 

On that weary and disconsolate journey to 
Calvary, nothing mitigates the cruel taunts of 
Christ's enemies and the violence of their blows, 
save the fear that their victim might die before 
they shall have reached their destination. They 
wish to crucify Him, and nothing but His death 
on the cross can satisfy their diabolical hatred 
and desire of revenge. Having reached Gol- 
gotha, Our Divine Savior is stretched upon the 
cross. Each of His hands and each of His feet 
is transfixed with a long, rough, iron spike, driv- 
en into it by the cruel executioners. Oh, what 
agonizing and torturing pain — what cruel suf- 
fering during the three long hours that followed ! 
There and then were verified in their fullest 
meaning Christ's plaintive words, "the Son of 
Man hath not where to lay His head." 

And this great privation and outrageous 
treatment Jesus endured for us — for you and for 
me; "He was offered because He willed it." Of 
His own free choice has He undergone the in- 
expressible torture and anguish of His bitter 
passion, out of love towards each and every 
human being in particular. Measure, if you can, 
the extent and greatness of the love which was 
necessary to atone for the sins of all men with- 
out exception. Not satisfied with recovering and 



Hope, The Superstructure 91 

bequeathing to us our lost right to heaven, He 
gives us Himself. He sacrifices His very Life- 
blood for us and that under the most excruciat- 
ing pain. Out of the purest and most disinter- 
ested love, He willingly sheds the very last drop 
of His Most Sacred Blood; ^ "and one of the sol- 
diers, with a spear, opened His side, and im- 
mediately there came out blood and water.'' 
Truly, Jesus Crucified is the King of Martj^rs. 
He is indeed the greatest sufferer for the sake 
of others the world has ever seen. Forgetful 
of self, and mindful only of others. He petitions 
His Heavenly Father, during that awful three 
hours' agony which followed, for the eternal sal- 
vation of all men. Also for us did Jesus pray, 
whilst suspended on that tree of scorn. Yea, 
so great was His^ desire to secure the eternal sal- 
vation of all men that He begged that inestim- 
able good even for those who hated Him most 
bitterly — for those who had nailed Him to the 
cross. Must we not then exclaim with the in- 
spired writer, "What could He have done for 
His vineyard that He has not done!" 

Christ's entire life here on earth was one un- 
interrupted series of prayer, labors, and suffer- 
ing. And on Mount Calvary, we behold Him 
stripped of every temporal possession — even of 
his very garments. Bereft, moreover of that 
most precious of temporal possessions — a good 

1 St. John 19 :34. 



92 The Palace Beautiful 

name — we see Him in the company of male- 
factors, dying a most painful and ignominous 
death. Surely, Our Divine Savior could not 
have done and suffered more for us than He has 
done and suffered. Should not all this inspire 
us with a firm hope of salvation? "The proper 
measure of hope is, indeed, to hope without 
measure." 

^ There is a peace that cometh after sorrow— 

lOf hope surrendered, not of hope fulfilled ; 
A peace that looketh not upon tomorrow, 

But calmly on a tempest that is stilled ; 
A peace which lives not now in joy's excesses. 

Nor in the happy life of love secure; 
But in the unerring strength the heart possesses 

Of conflicts won while learning to endure. 
A peace there is in sacrifice secluded, 

A life subdued, from will and passion free; 
'Tis not the peace which over Eden brooded, 

But that which triumphed in Gethsemane. 

"To hope without measure,*' therefore, does 
not mean to be indifferent to the practice of 
one's religion, or to esteem lightly what has cost 
pur Divine Savior so much. To hope for sal- 
vation signifies to suffer the trials of life with 
Christian resignation, and to strive with all the 
powers of our soul to gain heaven. God has 
redeemed us from hell without any effort or co- 
operation on our part, but He cannot save our 

1 Author unknowiL 



Hope, The Superstructure 93 

souls and admit us to the happiness of heaven 
without our earnest co-operation. Earthly trials 
and temptations should rather tend to increase 
one's hope. For "God is faithful," says St. Paul, 
"Who will not suffer you to be tempted beyond 
what you are able, but will make with tempta- 
tion issue that you may bear it." "He who has 
begun the good work" of our eternal salvation 
by implanting the virtue of hope in our soul, 
is, likewise, desirous of "perfecting it." God 
"Who is able to do all things more abundantly 
than we desire or understand" is ever ready to 
grant the prayer of hope. ^ "When our necessity 
is greatest, God's help is nearest." The greatest 
sinner can and must hope for salvation; and, 
should he fail to do so, he would offend Almighty 
God. "Even though one's sins be as scarlet, they 
shall be made white as snow." 

God, already in the natural order, seems to 
teach man to put no limitations on His mercy 
and goodness. How lavishly the Good God has 
been in the order of nature! We receive, for 
instance, but a two-billionth portion of the light 
and heat of the sun! Again, a few stars in the 
firmament would have sufficed to move us to 
admire God's greatness and goodness. And why 
so many kinds of flowers, created solely to glad- 
den the heart of man? A few species of winged 
songsters, moreover, might have rejoiced our 

1 St. Ambrose. 



94 The Palace Beautiful 

drooping spirits. Ah, what a multitude and va- 
riety of creatures the Heavenly Father has be- 
stowed upon us ! Must we not conclude from the 
multitudinous variety and beauty of the 
creatures in this world that God, by their great 
number and attractiveness, wishes to inspire us 
with unbounded hope in His goodness and 
mercy? No wonder that "We are saved by 
hope," and that without hope it is impossible 
to please God. 

Under no circumstances is it possible for any- 
one to be happy without hope. A man may 
have the best of health and unlimited riches, if 
he has not Christian hope his soul will experi- 
ence a void that no natural pleasure can fill. The 
man who despairs of God's help, or refuses to 
pray for it, necessarily is thrown upon his own 
limited resources, or rather upon his own weak- 
ness. He is like the builders of the Tower of 
Babel, who attempted to raise a material struc- 
ture reaching to heaven against the will of the 
King of Heaven. The man without hope in God 
does not rise above the clod in which he places 
his hope, and, consequently, must needs be most 
miserable. 

By relying on God, however, the Temple of 
the Soul is built higher and higher. Yea, it is 
possible for it to tower way above everything 
earthly. Christian hope enables the soul to 
hover around the very throne of the Divinity, 



Hope, The Superstructure 95 

and to share in heaven's joys. "Hope," says St. 
Paulinus, "gives us a foretaste of the promised 
joys of paradise." ^ "How great is the multitude 
of Thy sweetness, Lord, which Thou hast hid- 
den for them that hope in Thee." Let us not, 
therefore, put our hope in honors, nor in power, 
nor in pleasures, nor in any creature whatso- 
ever, but rather in the mercy and goodness of 
the Creator, Who has made the consoling prom- 
ise — "I will be thy reward exceeding great." By 
practising the virtue of Christian hope we can 
secure interior peace, and constantly extend the 
dimensions and enhance the beauty of the 
mansion of light — "The Palace Beautiful." 

IPs. 80;20. 



CHAPTER III 

CHARITY, THE UNITIVE PRINCIPLE AND ORNAMENT OF 

THE PALACE BEAUTIFUL — REQUISITES OF 

AN ARDENT CHARITY 



1. Hatred of Sin 

^An army helmeted in light 
Circles the Castle day and night 
To guard it from His deadly foe; 
But you must league with them, you know. 

So crafty, cruel, strong is Sin, 
Only the pure can victory win; 

He trembles, casts his sword and flies 
Before one glance of holy eyes. 

The animating and beautifying principle of 
the Spiritual Temple of God is supernatural love 
or charity. "Now there remain these three, 
Faith, Hope, and Charity, but the greatest of 
these is Charity." Without charity the Spiritual 
Palace of the Soul, if, indeed, such an abode 
could be dignified by this name, would resemble 
a "Palace of Ice" — cold and repellent. ^ "He 
that loveth not abideth in death." Animated by 
charity the soul is an exquisite temple in which 
God dwells. Without charity man is an abode 

1 God's Palace. — M. S. Pine. 21 gt. John 3:14. 

96 



Charity, The Unitive Principle 97 

of Satan and like a "painted sepulchre" filled 
with the corruption of sin and vice. 

By means of charity we build an altar to the 
Lord far more precious than did Noah. And 
from this altar of the soul we can offer sacrifices 
to God more meritorious than were the burnt 
and blood offerings of the Old Law. It is by 
means of charity that man ^ "buildeth his ascen- 
sion in the heaven." 

Build we must. Shall we build "as doth a 
moth"? Shall the abode be a den, haunt, or dun- 
geon, or a priceless temple? An abode of God 
or of Satan? Shall we be obliged in eternity to 
repent having labored without the Lord and 
"in vain," able only to point to a shanty, or to 
work and material wasted on another Tower of 
Babel? Are we to spend our energy in building 
up the Temple of God, or of Babylon? 

There is ^ "a time to destroy and a time to 
build." Let us remove all obstacles and build 
"a Sanctuary for the Lord God." Before God 
can take up His abode in the soul it must be 
cleansed from sin. The sinner must return to 
the Heavenly Father, and this is done by hating 
sin. "God is approached not by steps of the 
body, but by the affections of the soul." Hence, 
the first "step" towards God implies the necessity 
of receding from sinful attachment to creatures. 
Instead of relying on self or others, we must put 

lAmos 9:6. 2 Eccles. 3:3. 



98 The Palace Beautiful 

our trust in God. And this reliance on God is 
called "poverty of spirit." It disposes the soul 
for God's kingdom; "blessed are the poor in 
spirit for theirs is the kingdom of God." This 
virtue consists chiefly in the firm conviction that 
of ourselves we are weak, sinful creatures, — un- 
able, without the grace of God, to do the least 
thing in a manner available unto salvation. He 
only shall possess the kingdom of heaven, who, 
acknowledging his own weakness and inability 
to save his soul, relies wholly on the grace of 
God in his efforts to secure that blessed good. 
For, actual grace, without which we can do noth- 
ing salutary or available unto life everlasting, is 
a supernatural assistance and a free gift, merit- 
ed by Jesus Christ. 

In regard to the substance or essence of ac- 
tual grace, we must confess our ignorance. No 
man knows what it is in itself. God has not 
deigned to reveal its inner nature or essence. 
Grace is a mystery to man, just as the essence 
or substance of many other things is a mystery 
to him. We all know, for example, that the 
hand of the magnetic needle points northward, 
but the physicist who can give a satisfactory 
definition of the hidden force that attracts the 
magnetic needle is as yet unknown. And as 
there are many truths in the natural order whose 
interior nature man cannot fathom, so in the 
supernatural order there are things which we 



Charity, The Unitive Principle 99 

cannot expect to comprehend. And this for the 
simple reason that Almighty God has not seen 
fit to reveal them fully. We know from Divine 
Revelation, however, that our thoughts, words, 
and deeds must be accompanied by actual grace 
in order that they have merit unto salvation. 
According to the dispensation of Divine Provi- 
dence governing the supernatural order, unless 
we be assisted by this subtle something called 
grace, it is impossible for us to harbor a single 
thought or do the least thing that would have 
value for heaven. ^"It is God," says St. Paul, 
"Who worketh in (us), both to will and to ac- 
complish, according to His good will;" and to 
the Corinthians he writes : ^ "Not that we are 
sufficient to think anything of ourselves, as of 
ourselves; but our sufficiency is from God;" 
namely, through God's grace we are able to think 
in a salutary manner. 

Although actual grace is absolutely necessary 
to perform the slightest action or conceive the 
least thought in a manner available unto life 
everlasting, yet this supernatural assistance 
leaves man free to act under its influence or not. 
"God wills that all men be saved;" hence. He 
offers all men the necessary supernatural help 
of His grace. On the other hand, however, He 
leaves man free to accept, or to reject His grace. 
At all times, and under all circumstances, dur- 

iPhil. 2:13. 211 Cor. 3:5. 



100 The Palace Beautiful 

ing his present probation, man possesses the 
power to use, or not to use, the grace that is of- 
fered him — to give his otherwise good actions a 
supernatural and eternal value, or not to do so. 
In order, therefore, that the grace of God be 
fruitful in our souls, we must co-operate with it; 
we must do our share that a thought entertained 
or an act performed by us may have merit for 
heaven. No man has ever retired at night an 
enemy of God, and risen the next morning a 
friend of God. Co-operation with God's grace 
is always required on the part of man in order 
that he receive the salutary effect of the super- 
natural aid offered him. 

To illustrate this by an example: If you 
enter a marble shop, you will there see many 
blocks of stone that are still in the rough. The 
stonecutter or sculptor may be requested and 
even urged many times a day to convert the 
blocks into statues, or monuments; if he does 
not take his chisel and set to work, they will re- 
main what they are — rude blocks of stone. For, 
the statue or monument is not given to the 
marble, but hewn out of it. The order or request 
of the customer does not suffice to produce the 
desired work of art; co-operation on the part of 
the artist is absolutely required as a necessary 
condition. Thus in the supernatural order we 
are constantly offered actual grace; that is, the 
invitation and supernatural aid to do this or that 



Charity, The Unitive Principle 101 

good work, or to make this or that good reso- 
lution, is offered us; but if we do not avail our- 
selves of the opportunity and accept the invita- 
tion or assistance offered us by Almighty God, it 
will be of no avail to us. Our thoughts and ac- 
tions will then be either sinful, or purely natu- 
ral; supernaturally, they will be worthless, and 
without the least claim on a supernatural re- 
ward. If, on the other hand, we heed God's in- 
vitation and co-operate with His grace, if, under 
the influence of the supernatural help He offers 
us, we harbor the thought suggested, or make the 
resolution proposed, a supernatural effect ex- 
citing the admiration of the whole heavenly 
court will be the result. And be this result no 
more than a good intention, it will nevertheless 
secure one a better title to the Beatific Vision, 
and a higher place in heaven. 

Whether we consider the temporal or the 
eternal advantages, whether we reflect on the 
peace of soul a conscientious use of divine grace 
brings man in this life, or the eternal reward it 
secures for him in the life to come, we cannot 
but purpose to correspond faithfully to its 
slightest promptings. He who strives to make 
the best possible use of these divine favors shall 
ever enjoy that inexpressible peace which Our 
Lord promised when he said : ^ "Blessed are the 
poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of 



iSt. Matt. 5:3. 



102 The Palace Beautiful 

Heaven/' For, the "poverty of spirit" here spok- 
en of signifies nothing else than the conscious- 
ness of our total dependence on divine grace in 
order to secure the supernatural reward of 
heaven. The more faithfully and conscien- 
tiously, therefore, one co-operates with divine 
grace, the happier he will be not only in this 
world, but also in the world to come. 

It is known that wireless messages had been 
received by the ill-fated Titanic, warning it 
against the danger zone into which it was enter- 
ing. Had these messages been heeded, that "un- 
sinkable" with its sixteen hundred victims 
would not have been sunk. Actual grace is a 
wireless of a higher, spiritual order, coming 
from a wellnigh infinitely greater distance; such 
a message from God is always to our advantage, 
if we but heed and obey it. We understand 
even less about the subtle essence of these mes- 
sages than we do about that of the "wireless," 
but we do know that we need actual grace and 
that it is offered us by Almighty God in order 
that we may not suffer spiritual shipwreck. 

Moreover, though actual grace is a simple 
and indivisible quality, it may in its effect on 
our thoughts and actions be considered under 
different aspects. Now, as strengthening our 
fallen nature, or again, as urging us to perform 
some good work, or finally, as efficaciously as- 
sisting us in accomplishing the same and giving 



Charity, The Unitive Principle 103 

it a supernatural value. He who is in the state 
of sin and co-operates with the actual graces 
received will, likewise, obtain the grace of peni- 
tence, and penitence, when sincere and perfect, 
will obtain sanctifying grace, or the grace of 
justification, without which no man can be 
saved. 

2. The Necessity of Sanctifying Grace 

Besides actual grace, there is a grace called 
sanctifying grace, or the grace of justification. 
Actual grace is transitory, whilst sanctifying 
grace is a permanent quality which makes the 
soul that receives it just and holy before God. 
If we compare these two kinds of grace with 
light, actual grace resembles a flashlight, whilst 
sanctifying grace is like a constant permanent 
light. A ship on a voyage must be lighted from 
within, but besides this internal light, it stands 
in need of the signals from the lighthouse or 
radio-station. So, too, the soul on its voyage 
from time to eternity. It must possess the per- 
manent light of the Holy Ghost, and besides this 
interior light of sanctifying grace, it needs the 
flashlights of actual grace. 

One of the principal effects of sanctifying 
grace is that it destroys mortal sin in him who 
receives it. This makes its possession a neces- 
sary condition to obtain heaven. We know from 



104 The Palace Beautiful 

reason, as well as from Revelation, that if a per- 
son departs this life in a state of mortal sin, he 
is lost forever. For mortal sin is a free and 
deliberate transgression of the law of God in 
a grievous matter, or manner. It is a turning 
away of the creature from his Creator and 
supreme Lord. By committing a grievous sin, 
man maliciously sets his own will in opposition 
to that of his Maker, and thus deliberately for- 
feits his claim on an eternal reward. Of his own 
free choice the sinner prefers a creature to the 
Creator. 

Now, the Revealed Word of God teaches us 
that man's probation shall end with death. Then 
the "night shall come when man can work no 
longer." "As the tree falls, so it shall lie." 
Hence, he who dies in the state of mortal sin or 
with his will in opposition to the Divine Will, 
dies an enemy of God and remains God's enemy 
for all eternity. On the other hand, he who dies 
in the state of sanctifying grace, dies with his 
will in union with the Divine Will, dies a friend 
of God and shall remain in the friendship of 
God forever. Sanctifying grace and mortal 
sin are as incompatible as light and darkness. 
The two cannot co-exist in the same soul. The 
evil spirit dominates him who is in the state of 
grievous sin; and the Holy Ghost is enthroned in 
the man who is in the state of sanctifying grace. 
The very instant, therefore, that Almighty God 



Charity, The Unitive Principle 105 

imparts the inestimable gift of sanctifying grace 
to a human being, all his grievous sins are there- 
by destroyed. Even though a man's sins were 
as numerous as the sands of the seashore, the 
moment he receives sanctifying grace, he is 
freed from every one of them. For this divine 
quality necessarily destroys grievous sin and 
justifies him who becomes endowed with it; 
hence, its absolute necessity for the attainment 
of eternal happiness; for no one who passes out 
of this world devoid of sanctifying grace can 
ever enter heaven. Such a man is lost, and lost 
forever. 

Aside from the absolute necessity of being in 
the state of sanctifying grace in order to obtain 
eternal bliss, the temporal advantages flowing 
from the possession of this divine favor are so 
great and so numerous that these alone ought 
to enkindle in us a fervent desire to preserve this 
treasure carefully. Sanctifying grace not only 
frees us from all grievous offense against God, 
but it likewise makes us pleasing to Him. In 
committing sin, man refuses to give Almighty God 
that which justly belongs to Him, and thus be- 
comes an unjust debtor. By the grace of justi- 
fication, however, like the prodigal son, the sin- 
ner is restored to former favor and is made 
just and holy in God's sight. Through the won- 
derful transforming power of divine grace, the 
sinner, from a hideous object, becomes again an 



106 The Palace Beautiful 

object of delight to the angels and saints. What 
a sublime gift of the Almighty must sanctifying 
grace be ! By its very presence it can transform 
an enemy of God into His bosom friend, and a 
lukewarm Christian into a saint. Owing to this 
extraordinary power of divine grace, many the- 
ologians consider its effect on the soul a grander 
work than creation. For creation, they argue, 
belongs to the natural order, while sanctifying 
grace belongs wholly to the supernatural order, 
and is proper to God alone. 

He who is in possession of sanctifying grace, 
moreover, is the object of God's special provi- 
dence. "It is to the just," the Holy Ghost assures 
us, "that all things work together unto good." 
These are they ^ "to Whom ministering angels are 
given, to keep them in all their ways." On this 
account, the possession of sanctifying grace is 
a source of peace and hope. A man who pos- 
sesses this divine light is like a traveler perform- 
ing a journey in sunshine and fair weather. Let 
come what may, the man in God's grace always 
sees his path clear and well defined. "The just 
man," says St. Augustine, "possesses a heaven 
here on earth;" for, he adds, "Almighty God 
dwells in him." He who is in the state of grace, 
therefore, possesses the greatest of kingdoms — 
the kingdom of God. "Grace," according to the 
angelic doctor, "is the beginning of eternal glory 



iPs. 90:11. 



Charity, The Unitive Principle 107 

in us, just as the glory of heaven is the consum- 
mation of grace." Hence, Our Lord aptly calls 
this divine favor, ^ "a fountain of water spring- 
ing up into life everlasting." 

This supernatural gift of God makes us like 
unto Christ, Who is its meritorious cause. By 
sanctifying grace, the soul "puts on Christ." 
Christ, according to the apostle of the Gentiles, 
is "formed anew" in the soul of the just. With 
this great apostle, such a favored soul can in all 
truth saj% "I live, now not I, but Christ liveth 
in me." For through grace the soul of the just 
is made conformable to Christ, the Son of God. 
Hence, in receiving this heavenly quality, we 
become "partakers" in a real and strict sense of 
the word "of the Divine Nature." For, sanctify- 
ing grace is something which far transcends all 
the needs of human nature, and elevates man 
into the supernatural order. For this reason 
the Holy Ghost addresses those who are in the 
state of habitual grace, as "gods, and the sons 
of the Most High." ' "Behold what manner of 
charity the Father hath bestowed on us, that 
we should be called, and should be the sons of 
God." 

Surely nothing in this world can be more at- 
tractive in intrinsic beauty than a soul endowed 
with supernatural grace. "If," says the saintly 
Blosius, "the beauty of a soul in grace would be 

iSt. John 4:14. 21 st. John 3:1. 



108 The Palace Beautiful 

seen, mankind would be transported with won- 
der and delight." Nothing is more ineffable, 
nothing more precious, than sanctifying grace. 
As by the physical and chemical powers of na- 
ture a worthless piece of charcoal is converted 
into a brilliant diamond, thus by the wonderful 
power of divine grace, the black and hideous 
soul of the sinner becomes an object of exquisite 
beauty in the eyes of God and the saints. Ah, 
who can appreciate fully the value of this 
heaven-sent Gift! Sanctifying grace frees man 
from sin, makes him the adopted child of God, 
a brother and co-heir of Christ, a Living Temple 
of the Holy Ghost. Yea, Almighty God Himself 
takes up His abode in the soul of the just, and 
overwhelms him with His choicest gifts. 

By a loving dispensation of Divine Provi- 
dence, moreover, he who is in possession of 
habitual grace participates in all the good works 
that are performed by the Church Militant, and 
probably also in the prayers of the Church 
Suffering; whereas, he who is in the state of 
mortal sin has no share whatever in the super- 
natural works of others. His soul is supernatu- 
rally barren and spiritually dead. Were such 
a man to give millions of dollars to the poor and 
needy, he could not thereby receive any merit 
for heaven. He might by his good works obtain 
the grace of conversion, but merit unto life ever- 
lasting he could not secure so long as he is in 



Charity, The Unitive Principle 109 

the state of mortal sin. ^ "If I should distribute 
all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should 
deliver my body to be burned, and have not 
charity, it profiteth me nothing." On the other 
hand, even the giving of a glass of water or a 
penny by a person who is in the state of grace, 
has an eternal recompense attached to it. In 
order, therefore, to possess God, mortal sin must 
be removed from the soul and sanctifying grace 
secured. He who has not charity is estranged 
from God, supernaturally lifeless, and abides in 
spiritual death. "He has the name of being alive, 
but is dead." 

3. The Practice of the Supernatural Love of 
God and of One's Fellowmen 

Charity, or the supernatural love of God, and 
sanctifying grace are inseparable. He, there- 
fore, who possesses sanctifying grace is in pos- 
session of the theological virtue of charity. Like 
the virtues of faith and hope, charity is infused 
into the soul in baptism, and enables man to 
make God the end of all his thoughts, words and 
actions. It is "the bond of perfection" which 
weds the soul to her spouse — the Holy Ghost. 
^"Charity edifieth," that is, buildeth up. It is, 
in truth, the principal, yea the essential factor 
in the Spiritual Palace of the Soul. 

II Cor. 13:3. 21 Cor. 8:1. 



110 The Palace Beautiful 

The exercise of this virtue, or an act of divine 
love, is the noblest of which man is capable. To 
practise charity, however, is not a matter of 
choice, but of duty. "Thou shalt love the Lord 
thy God with thy whole soul, and with thy whole 
mind, and with thy whole strength." This first 
and greatest commandment enjoins the obliga- 
tion of loving God with our will, mind, affection, 
yea, in all our thoughts, words, and deeds. And 
surely it should not be difficult to love the all 
good God. Ought we not rather deem it a privi- 
lege to love the Infinite Creator of all, especially 
since "He has first loved us"? One should think 
that a commandment enjoining the love of God 
would be superfluous, and that every true child 
of God would find it impossible not to love his 
Heavenly Father. 

That we can acquire a knowledge of God 
makes us superior to all the other creatures of 
this world, but that we are able to love Him in 
a supernatural manner ranks us, so to speak, 
amongst the angels. ^ "Since, then, to love God 
is something greater than to know Him, espe- 
cially in this state of life, it follows that the 
love of God presupposes knowledge of God. 
Knowledge begins from creatures, tends to 
God, and Charity begins with God as the last 
end, and passes on to creatures." ^ "Now there 
remain faith, hope, and charity, these three; but 



1 Summa, St. Thomas, II, 2, Qu. 27, Art. 4. 21 Cor. 13 ;13. 



Charity, The Unitive Principle 111 

the greatest of these is charity." "Charity is the 
end of the commandment." Charity opens the 
only way man has of approaching God and be- 
coming united with Him. ^ "We are called way- 
farers by reason of our being on the way to God, 
Who is the last end of our happiness. On this 
way we advance as we get nigh to God, Who 
is approached, not by steps of the body, but by 
the affections of the soul; and this approach is 
the result of charity, since it unites man's mind 
to God. Hence, the Apostle calls charity the 
way, when he says 'I show unto you yet a more 
excellent way.' " 

The virtue of Charity is absolutely necessary 
for salvation. The soul without it is an abode 
of Satan, not of God. Charity is lost through sin. 
"Grievous, or mortal sin, consists in aversion 
from God," and, consequently, destroys the vir- 
tue of charity. And if anyone die thus turned 
away from God he remains in this spiritual state 
and disposition forever. ^ "Just as the light 
would cease at once in the air, were an obstacle 
placed to its being lit up by the sun, even so 
charity ceases at once to be in the soul through 
the placing of an obstacle to the outpouring of 
charity by God into the soul. Now it is evident 
that through every mortal sin which is contrary 
to God's commandments, an obstacle is placed 
to the outpouring of charity, since from the very 

1 Summa, St. Thomas, II, 2, Qu. 24, Art. 4. 

2 Ibid., Qu. 24, Art. 12. 

8 



112 The Palace Beautiful 

fact that a man chooses to prefer sin to God's 
friendship, which requires that we should obey 
His will, it follows that the habit of charity is 
lost at once through one mortal sin. Hence, St. 
Augustine says that man is enlightened by God's 
presence, but he is darkened at once by God's 
absence, because distance from Him is effected 
not by change of place but by aversion of the 
will." The virtue of charity, therefore, is, in a 
certain sense, the most necessary of all virtues, 
since without it no one can be saved. 

Now, a benign Providence makes it easy for 
all men to know and to love God. Anyone who 
desires to have the virtue of charity can acquire 
it. "God willeth all men to be saved." ' "The 
very order of things is such, that God is know- 
able and lovable for Himself, since He is essen- 
tially truth and goodness itself, whereby other 
things are known and loved; but, with regard 
to us, since our knowledge is derived through 
the senses, those things are knowable first, which 
are nearer to our senses, and the last term of 
knowledge is that which is most remote from 
our senses.". . . .^"Accordingly .... love, which is 
an act of the appetitive power, eVen in this state 
of life, tends to God first, and flows on from Him 
to other things, and in this sense charity loves 
God immediately, and other things through God. 
On the other hand, with regard to knowledge, 

1 Stimma, St. Thomas, II, Qu. 27, Art. 4. 2 ibid. 



Charity, The Unitive Principle 113 

it is the reverse, since we know God through 
other things, either as a cause through its effects, 
or by way of pre-eminence or negation." It is, 
therefore, easier in a way to acquire greater love 
of God than to acquire greater knowledge of 
God. The human heart, too, is created to love 
and it cannot find rest until it rest in the love 
of God. 

Our love of God ought to increase from day 
to day. "The measure of our love for God is 
to love Him with our whole heart, that is, to 
love Him as much as He can be loved." — ^ "An 
affection, whose object is subject to reason's 
judgment, should be measured by reason. But 
the object of the divine love, which is God, sur- 
passes the judgment of reason; wherefore it is 
not measured by reason but transcends it. Nor 
is there parity between the interior act and ex- 
ternal acts of charity. For the interior act of 
charity has the character of an end, since man's 
ultimate good consists in his soul cleaving to 
God, according to the Psalmist, 'It is good for 
me to adhere to my God'; whereas the exterior 
acts are as means to the end, and so have to be 
measured both according to charity and accord- 
ing to reason." 

How consoling it is to know that this sub- 
lime, God-like activity of our soul has no limi- 
tations ! The love of God can increase, and ever 



iSumma, St Thomas, II, 2, Qu. 27, Art 6. 



114 The Palace Beautiful 

become more intense and comprehensive. By 
acts of love, our ability, too, to love more per- 
fectly becomes greater and greater. ^"Charity 
increases by its subject partaking of charity 
more and more, i. e., by being more reduced to 
its act and more subject thereto. Charity con- 
sidered as such has no limit to its increase, since 
it is a participation of the Infinite Charity which 
is the Holy Ghost. In like manner the cause of 
the increase of charity, viz., God, is possessed of 
infinite power. Furthermore, on the part of its 
subject, no limit to this increase can be de- 
termined, because, whenever charity increases, 
there is a corresponding increased ability to re- 
ceive a further increase. It is, therefore, evident 
that it is not possible to fix any limits to the 
increase of charity in this life." 

But how is man to produce this increase of 
love in his heart? What must we do to grow in 
divine love? It is true that no one can ever 
love God perfectly, or as much as He deserves 
to be loved. Yet, it is wholly in man's power 
to prefer God to all things, and to love nothing 
save it be in accordance with the divine will. 
Then, too, we can constantly endeavor to love 
God more and more perfectly. As friendship 
between man and man can increase and become 
more strong, so can charity, which is friendship 
between God and man. An act of charity or 
supernatural love has much the same qualities 

1 Summa, St. Thomas, II, 2, Qu. 24, Art. 7. 



Charity, The Unitive Principle 115 

that an act of natural love, or of true friendship 
has. He who truly loves his friend cherishes good 
will towards him. "Love consists," according to 
Aristotle, "in wishing another well." Charity, 
or supernatural love does more than this. ^"To 
love — includes goodwill; but such dilection, or 
love, adds union of affections; wherefore, good- 
will is the beginning of friendship." .... "Good- 
will, properly speaking, is that act of the will 
whereby we wish well to another. It differs 
from actual love, considered not only as being in 
the sensitive appetite, but also as being in the 
intellective appetite or will. For the love which 
is in the sensitive appetite is a passion. Now, 
every passion seeks its object with a certain 
eagerness. And the passion of love is not aroused 
suddenly, but is born of an earnest considera- 
tion of the object loved; wherefore the philoso- 
pher showing the difference between goodwill 
and the love which is a passion, says that good- 
will does not imply impetuosity or desire, that is 
to say, has not an eager inclination, because it 
is by the sole judgment of his reason that one 
man wishes another well. Again, suchlike love 
arises from previous acquaintance, whereas 
goodwill sometimes arises suddenly. But the 
love which is in the intellective appetite also 
differs from goodwill, because it denotes a cer- 
tain union of affections between the lover and 



1 Summa, St. Thomas, II, 2, Qu. 27, Art. 2. 



116 The Palace Beautiful 

the beloved, inasmuch as the lover deems the 
beloved as somewhat united to him, or belong- 
ing to him, and so tends tov^ard him. On the 
other hand, goodwill is a simple act of the will, 
whereby we wish a person well, even without 
presupposing the aforesaid union of the affec- 
tions with him." Supernatural love is, therefore, 
far more perfect and excellent than any human 
or natural friendship. Charity is friendship be- 
tween man and the Supreme Good. 

Charity, moreover, like true friendship, finds 
joy and delight in the contemplation of the 
beloved's good qualities and perfections. Super- 
natural love never tires contemplating the good- 
ness, power, and wisdom of the Almighty as 
reflected from the visible universe. And the more 
it meditates on the attributes of God, the more 
joy does it experience. Charity finds supreme 
delight in glorifying the Heavenly Father for the 
grace of creation, God the Son for the grace of 
redemption, and God the Holy Ghost for the 
fullness of divine lovableness that He pours into 
the souls of the blessed in heaven and the just on 
earth. 

Charity resembles true friendship, also, in its 
endeavor to do the beloved good. It cannot re- 
main passive. True love is essentially active. 
Like fire it warms and enkindles everything 
within its reach. Charity ardently desires that 
God be better known and served by all men; and, 



Charity, The Unitive Principle 117 



when possible, it induces others to praise and 
glorify God. Nothing could be more noble or 
more generous than charity. It gives what it 
can, and as much as it can. By charity man con- 
secrates his will to God in loyal and faithful 
service, his heart by ardent affections, his mem- 
ory and understanding by always striving to ob- 
tain greater knowledge of God and Jesus Christ, 
Whom the Father has sent into this world to 
redeem mankind. 

The true love of God will embrace, likewise, 
the image and likeness of God. ^"Thou shalt 
love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and 
with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, 
and with thy whole strength." This is the First 
Commandment. And the Second is like unto 
it : "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." ^ "if 
we love one another," says St. John, "God abid- 
eth in us and His charity is perfect in us." 
^"Charity," says St. Paul, "is patient, is kind; 
charity envieth not, dealeth not perversely; is 
not puffed up; is not ambitious; seeketh not her 
own; is not provoked to anger; thinketh no evil; 
rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth with the 
truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, 
hopeth all things, endureth all things." 

^ "God ought to be loved," says St. Thomas, 
"chiefly and before all out of charity; for He is 



iSt Mark 12:30 sq. 21 st John 4:12. 3i CJor. 13:4 sqq* 
4 Summa, St. Thomas, II, 2, Qu. 26, Art 2. 



118 The Palace Beautiful 

loved as the cause of happiness, whereas our 
neighbor is loved as receiving together with us 
a share of happiness from Him. A thing is a 
cause of love in two ways: first, as being the 
reason for loving. In this way good is the cause 
of love, since each thing is loved according to 
its measure of goodness. Secondly, a thing 
causes love, as being a way to acquire love. It 
is in this way that seeing is the cause of loving, 
not as though a thing were lovable according as 
it is visible, but because by seeing a thing we are 
led to love it." .... "Since our neighbor is more 
visible to us, he is the first lovable object we meet 
with, because the soul learns, from those things 
it knows, to love what it knows not. Hence it 
can be argued that, if any man loves not his 
neighbor, neither does he love God, not because 
his neighbor is more lovable, but because he is 
the first thing to demand our love; and God 
is more lovable by reason of His greater good- 
ness." 

The love of our neighbor which flows from 
the supernatural love of God embraces all men, 
even those who are wicked, and such as hate us. 
^ "When it is said. Thou shalt love thy neighbor,' 
writes the Angelic Doctor, it is evident that we 
ought to look upon every man as our neighbor. 
Now, sinners do not cease to be men, for sin 
does not destroy nature. Therefore, we ought 

1 Summa, St. Thomas, Qu. 25, Art. 6 sqq. 



Charity, The Unitive Principle 119 

to love sinners out of charity. Two things may 
be considered in the sinner, his nature and his 
guilt. According to his nature, which he has from 
God, he has a capacity for happiness, on the 
fellowship of which charity is based, and, hence, 
we ought to love sinners out of charity, in re- 
spect to their nature. On the other hand, their 
guilt is opposed to God, and is an obstacle to 
happiness. Wherefore, in respect of their guilt 
whereby they are opposed to God, all sinners are 
to be hated, even ^ "one's father or mother" or 
kindred. For it is our duty to hate, in the sin- 
ner, his being a sinner, and to love in him his 
being a man capable of bliss; and this is to love 
him truly, out of charity, for God's sake." This 
"hatred of a person's evil is equivalent to love 
of his good," and therefore "belongs to charity." 
2 "When our friends fall into sin, we ought not 
to deny them the amenities of friendship so long 
as there is hope of their mending their ways, and 
we ought to help them more readily to regain 
virtue than to recover money, had they lost it, 
forasmuch as virtue is more akin than money to 
friendship. When, however, they fall into very- 
great wickedness, and become incurable, we 
ought no longer to show them friendliness." And, 
indeed, one could not say the Lord's Prayer 
sincerely so long as one had not charity towards 
all men without exception. 

1 St. Luke 14 :26. 

2 "Summa," St. Thomas, II, 2, Ques. 25, Art. 6, ad. 2. 



120 The Palace Beautiful 

^ "Charity, however, does not require that we 
should have a special movement of love towards 
our enemies absolutely, because it does not re- 
quire that wie should have a special movement 
of love to every individual man, since this would 
be impossible. Nevertheless, charity does re- 
quire this in respect of our being prepared in 
mind, namely that we should be ready to love 
our enemies individually, if the necessity were 
to occur. ^ "That man should actually do so, and 
love his enemy for God's sake, without it being 
necessary for him to do so, belongs to the per- 
fection of charity. For since man loves his 
neighbor out of charity, for God's sake, the 
more he loves God, the more does he put en- 
mities aside and show love toward his neighbor; 
thus if we loved a certain man very much, we 
would love his children though they were un- 
friendly toward us." 

Nor does the divine precept of charity re- 
quire us to love all equally in every sense of the 
term. It is perfectly lawful to have greater love 
towards one person than towards another. In 
some cases, we are even obliged to do so. ^"Love 
can be unequal in two ways : first on the part of 
the good we wish our friend. In this respect we 
love all men equally out of charity; because we 
wish them all one same generic good, namely, 

1 Stimma, St. Thomas, II, 2, Qu. 25, Art. 6 sqq. 

2 Ibid., Qu. 25,. Art. 8. 

3 Ibid., Qu. 26. Art. 7. 



Charity, The Unitive Principle 121 

everlasting happiness. Secondly love is said to 
be greater through its action being more intense; 
and in this way we ought not to love all equally. 
As regards beneficence we are bound to observe 
inequality, because we cannot do good to all; but 
as regards benevolence, love ought not to be un- 
equal." 

Charity, then, fixes the heart on the Supreme 
Good — for which it has been created. ^ "The end 
of all human actions and affections is the love of 
God, whereby principally we attain to our last 
end." Nor is it possible to have too much char- 
ity or love of God, for "the more we love God the 
better our love is." We should not be satisfied, 
therefore, till the love of God animates our every 
deliberate thought, word and deed. 

Man may and must love himself, too, but this 
love of self must be motived by the love of God. 
^ "God will be to each one the entire reason of 
his love, for God is man's entire good. For if 
we make the impossible supposition that God 
were not man's good. He would not be man's 
reason for loving. Hence it is that in the order 
of love man should love himself more than all 
else after God, and for God's sake. So long, 
therefore, as self-love is well ordered it is meri- 
torious and cannot be excessive. Inordinate self- 
love, however, is sinful. It is aptly called selfish- 
ness, for it seeks self primarily. There is even 

1 Summa, St. Thomas, 11, 2, Qu. 27, Art. 6. 

2 Ibid'., Qu. 26, Art. 13. 



122 The Palace Beautiful 

a greater difference between true love of self 
and one's neighbor, and a mere sensual or phil- 
anthropic affection, than there is between the 
ruddy glow which health pours over the coun- 
tenance, and the artificial bloom with which 
vanity colors its cheek. True love seeks God 
and the real happiness of others; false love seeks 
self and cannot bear the acid test of suffering 
and self-renunciation for the sake of the be- 
loved. ^ "Those who love themselves are to be 
blamed, in so far as they love themselves as re- 
gards their sensitive nature, which they humor. 
This is not to love oneself truly according to 
one's rational nature, so as to desire for oneself 
the good things which pertain to the perfection 
of reason." A vast difference, therefore, ob- 
tains between philanthropic love and Christian 
love or charity. "Philanthropy," ^ says Tardivel, 
"as its name indicates, has for its sole object 
man. Christian charity, while it labors for the 
profit of man, springs from the love of God and 
has for its object His greater glory. Philanthropy 
busies itself with the material body, with the 
present life. Christian charity, without neglect- 
ing the real necessities of the body, provides, 
also, and in an especial manner, for the infinitely 
more important needs of the soul. Philanthropy 
makes big pretenses, lots of noise, and advertises 



1 Summa, St. Thiomas, II, 2, Qu. 25, Art. 4. 

2 In "Verity," No. 16. Translation by "The Catholic Fort- 
nigrhtiy Review,'* X, 1, p. 8. 



Charity, The Unitive Principle 123 

itself as much as possible. Particularly the wo- 
men who are its devotees love to see their names 
in the newspapers, to appear in public, to have 
people talk about them. If you see them act and 
hear them speak, you would think that no one 
outside of their narrow circle takes the least 
interest in the well-being of his fellow creatures. 
Christian charity, on the other hand, labors 
noiselessly, in silence and secrecy, in the depth 
of convents, monasteries, asylums, hospitals, 
orphanages, and charitable institutions of every 
description; and in the outside world through 
the admirable Christian Aid Societies. Those 
who devote themselves to works of Christian 
charity do not seek publicity, they do not pose 
before their contemporaries as the sole bene- 
factors of humankind." 

By the practice of true love, or charity, man 
can, therefore, lay up treasures unto life ever- 
lasting. It is thus that the Spiritual House of 
the Soul is adorned and beautified. He that 
abideth in charity abideth in God, and God in 
him. By means of this heaven-born virtue man 
can progress constantly towards God and 
heaven, for, ^ "man advances in the way to God, 
not merely by actual increase of charity, but 
also by being disposed to that increase." 
How true, and, at the same time, how inspiring 
in this connection are the words of the Holy 



1 Summa, St. Thomas, II, Qu. 24, Art 7. 



124 The Palace Beautiful 

Ghost: — "The path of the just, as a shining light 
goeth forward and increaseth even unto perfect 
day." ^ "Nothing is sweeter than love, nothing 
stronger, nothing higher, nothing wider, nothing 
more pleasant, nothing fuller or better in heaven 
or on earth; for love is born of God, and cannot 
rest but in God, above all created things." 

How beautiful, too, the praise bestowed on 
the queen of the virtues by Hugh of St. Victor: 
^ "Love healeth every weakness of the soul. Love 
rooteth up all vices. Love produceth all virtues. 
Love illumineth the mind, purgeth the con- 
science, gladdeneth the soul, showeth God. Pride 
doth not puff up the soul wherein love dwelleth, 
neither doth jealousy ravage it, nor anger lay it 
waste, nor melancholy tease it, nor greed blind 
it, nor gluttony inflame it, nor lust stain it; but 
rather it is always pure, always chaste, always 
quiet, always joyous, always peaceful, always 
kindly, always modest, in adversity safe, in pros- 
perity temperate, despising the world, clinging 
to God, making all goods its own by loving them, 
and gladly bestowing its own goods upon all, 
neither fearing want, nor solicitous about 
wealth." 



1 Following of Christ, Thomas k Kempls, Bk. Ill, Ch. 5. 
SHug-o's Praise of Love, p. 22. By McSorley, C. S. P. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE DIVINE EXEMPLAR OF THE PALACE BEAUTIFUL 
IS JESUS CHRIST 

The source and bond of moral perfection is 
charity or the love of God. "Charity is the bond 
of perfection." And the most perfect exempli- 
fication of charity is found in the Son of God 
made Man. Our Lord and Redeemer, Jesus 
Christ, ought to be loved with all the powers of 
our soul. And the more we love Him, the better 
shall we know Him. ^ "He that loveth Me, shall 
be loved of My Father; and I will love him and 
manifest Myself to him." This manifestation of 
the God-Man is the chief source of man's happi- 
ness on earth, as well as of future bliss. In this 
world it can become so great that one sees, like 
St. Paul, Jesus alone. 

When glancing over the various kinds of 
creatures in the visible universe, our eye instinc- 
tively falls upon man as far superior to all 
others. Among the living beings that inhabit the 
earth man alone is capable of knowing, loving, 
and serving the Creator. Man is the only 
creature on the globe, moreover, that is able to 
distinguish between moral right and wrong. And 
since man is capable of moral progress and per- 
fection, it is evident that he should try to per- 

1 St. John 14 :21. 

125 



126 The Palace Beautiful 

feet himself morally. All the other living 
creatures strive by their very nature to develop 
and attain the perfection of their peculiar kind 
or species. Why ought not man do the same? 

Now, as the artist is greatly assisted in his 
work by the use of a model, so we in our pur- 
suit of moral development and perfection can 
be assisted by keeping before our mind a model 
worthy of imitation. But where are we to find 
such a model of moral conduct? Who is the per- 
son that can in all things and at all times serve 
as an example for our imitation? Is there a per- 
fect human being to be found, — one in whom we 
shall seek in vain for anything blameworthy? 
Has the Heavenly Father given His children here 
on earth a model and advocate unto temporal 
and eternal happiness? The answer may be giv- 
en in His own words: "This is My beloved Son 
in Whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him." By 
obeying Jesus Christ, the Son of God, therefore. 
He becomes the cause and advocate of man's 
temporal and eternal happiness. ^ "Being con- 
summated. He became, to all that obey Him the 
cause of eternal salvation." 

The Christian rightly deems that man the 
most w;orthy of imitation who, during life, 
imaged and glorified the Almighty most per- 
fectly. For man has been created according to 
the image and likeness of God. ^ "Let us make 



iHebr. 5:9. 2 Gen. 1:26. 



The Divine Exemplar Is Jesus Christ 127 

man according to Our image and likeness." As 
God is immortal, so is the spirit which animates 
man, immortal. Both man as well as his Maker 
are destined to live forever. "Fear ye not them 
that kill the body and are not able to kill the 
soul." Perfect dominion over the soul's life is 
with God alone, for He hath made it immortal. 

This immortal soul of ours is likewise en- 
dowed with understanding and free will. The 
faculties of intellect and moral liberty, more 
than any others, make man the image of His 
Creator. They put him in a category by him- 
self amongst the creatures of the visible uni- 
verse, and make him most like unto God. In 
fact, there is no creature on earth that reflects 
so many perfections of the Almighty as man. 

Great is the picture of God which we secure 
when contemplating the starry firmament: 
^ "The heavens show forth the glory of God, and 
the firmament declareth the work of His hands." 
Great, too, is the glory of God as manifested by 
the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms 
here on earth. But incomprehensibly greater 
is the glory of God as reflected by man. He who 
studies human nature, the sublimest of the vis- 
ible works of the Most High, is surprised and 
amazed at its countless wonders. He will easily 
understand, too, why Christians call man a 
macrocosm in a microcosm, that is, a great 

IPs. 18:2. 
9 



128 The Palace Beautiful 

world in a small world. Whatever actual per- 
fections we discover in the other visible works 
of God, we likewise find in man, but in a far 
more perfect degree. Hence man, even in the 
natural order, may rightly be termed the image 
and glory of the Almighty. 

And if we look over the human race for the 
most perfect member of the human family, our 
glance instantly lights upon the God-Man, Jesus 
Christ, as the one peerless "bud that blossomed 
on humanity's stalk." His character beggars all 
description, and transcends all analysis. Christ 
possessed in an eminent degree whatever per- 
fections are to be found in any people or nation. 
He was neither Roman, nor Greek, nor Jewish, 
but simply "the Son of Man." 

What grace and comeliness, what knowledge 
and wisdom, what foresight and judgment! Who 
could resist the lovableness of Jesus Christ! How 
charming and beautiful His personality! The 
body of Christ was the most perfect that ever 
graced the earth. Not only during the Transfig- 
uration on Tabor, but at all times He could eas- 
ily be recognized as the Vessel of Infinite Holi- 
ness in Whom ^ "dwelleth the fullness of the 
God-head corporeally." In Him appeared ^ "the 
glory as it were of the only begotten of the 
Father." 

And who can conceive the exquisite beauty 

iCol. 2:9. 2 St. John 1:14. 



The Divine Exemplar Is Jesus Christ 129 

of Christ's immaculate soul! Who could with- 
hold admiration for His character! Christ's in- 
tellect is the depository of everything knowable, 
whether past, present, or future. ^ "In Him are 
hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." 
As a boy of twelve years He astonished by His 
learning the most erudite men of His time. The 
doctors of the law are amazed at His knowledge, 
Who proves by His answjers ^ "that He knows all 
things." How his sentence, for example, con- 
founds and condemns the hypocrites who bring 
the woman taken in adultery to Him": — "He that 
is without sin among you," He says, "let him 
first cast a stone at her." Again, what an admir- 
able answer He gives to the wicked Pharisees 
who sought to ensnare Him with the coin : "Give 
unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and 
unto God the things that are God's." ^ "Never 
did man speak like this man." Although He 
lived on earth nineteen hundred years ago, we 
of the twentieth century shall look in vain for 
a more perfect image of God in the natural order 
than Jesus Christ. In Him we find the highest 
type of every natural virtue and the fullness of 
every human prerogative. Even His greatest 
enemies, and men without faith, must concede 
that Jesus Christ was the most charming, the 
most prudent, the most learned, yea, the most 
perfect man that ever lived. 

iCol. 2:3. 2 St. John 16:30. 3 gt. John 7:46. 



130 The Palace Beautiful 

But the image and glory of God are far 
more perfectly reflected by man in the super- 
natural than in the natural order. So long as 
man is free from grievous sin and in the state 
of sanctifying grace, he is a supernatural image 
of the Almighty, and thus gives God direct glory. 
Through grace, man is a partaker in the Divine 
Nature. Under the influence of this divine quali- 
ty, he is conformed to his sublime end, which is 
to glorify the goodness of his Heavenly Father 
for time and eternity. An immortal soul, under 
the influence of sanctifying grace, is the crown- 
ing glory of God's creation : ^ "Thou hast 
made him a little less than the angels. Thou hast 
crowned him with glory and honor, and hast set 
him over the works of Thy hands." 

Now Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, is the 
author and meritorious cause of all grace. Hence, 
He must have possessed this quality in the high- 
est possible degree. His human soul was never 
for an instant devoid of grace. He grew as in 
age, so also in grace. We see Him entering upon 
His public life a perfect man, adorned with 
every supernatural virtue as well as with every 
natural virtue. "Grace is poured abroad in His 
lips," and people ^ "wondered at the words of 
grace that proceeded from His mouth." 

His virtues are not of a stoical, nor of a the- 
oretical nature. They are genuine, practical, and 



iPs. 8:6. 2 St. Luke 4:22. 



The Divine Exemplar Is Jesus Christ 131 

above all, supernatural. Jesus Christ displayed 
the greatest possible meekness and mercy; again 
we see Him actuated by undaunted courage and 
fortitude. The Pharisees and Scribes are con- 
demned as vipers, hypocrites, and painted sepul- 
chres; whilst for the penitent Magdalen and the 
lowly publican He has naught but words of 
hope, mercy, and compassion. His zeal for the 
house of God moves Him to scourge the traffick- 
ers from the temple, whilst His zeal for souls 
moves Him to leave the ninety-nine sheep in 
search of the one-hundredth that had gone 
astray. 

His unbounded love of men knows no dis- 
tinction of race, color, condition, or nationality. 
^ "Master," say the hostile Herodians to Him, "we 
know that Thou art a true speaker, and teachest 
the way of God in truth; neither carest Thou for 
any man, for Thou dost not regard the person 
of men." His fraternal charity embraces all 
mankind with the purest and most self-sacri- 
ficing love. Never has the world witnessed such 
boundless and ardent love. ^ "Christ's charity," 
writes the apostle of the Gentiles, "surpasseth 
all knowledge." This charity urged Him to lead 
a life of poverty and want. ^ "The foxes have 
holes, and the birds of the air nests; but the Son 
of Man hath not where to lay His head." ^ "You 



1st. Matt. 22:16. 2 Eph. 3:19. 3 St. Matt. 8:20. 
4 11 Cor. 8:9. 



132 The Palace Beautiful 

know the grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ, that, 
being rich, he became poor for your sakes; that 
through His poverty you might be rich." Yea, 
more, ^ "He hath become obedient unto death" — 
delivering Himself for us as an oblation and a 
sacrifice : "He was bruised for our iniquities. He 
was wounded for our sins." His bloodless and 
mangled body on the tree of scorn loudly pro- 
claims the greatest love the world has ever seen; 
for "greater love than this no man hath, that he 
lay down his life for his friends" — and his 
enemies. 

When we now cast a retrospect over the life 
and work of Jesus Christ, we find that through- 
out His entire sojourn here on earth His one de- 
sire and aim was to make His Father in Heaven 
better known and loved. "Glory to God in the 
Highest" was the mainspring of His every 
thought, word, and deed. ^ "My meat," He says, 
"is to do the will of Him Who sent Me, that I 
may perfect His work." In that most trying 
hour of His blessed life, when He was aban- 
doned apparently both by God and by man, His 
ardent prayer was: "Yet not My will be done, 
but Thine." The "Son of Man came not to be 
ministered unto but to minister." Always and 
ever we behold in Him the model of every virtue, 
especially of that basic virtue, obedience to the 
Heavenly Father's will. And this is moral per- 



1 Philip. 2:8. .2 St. John 4:34. 



The Divine Exemplar Is Jesus Christ 133 

fection. No matter what period of human his- 
tory we study, never shall we be able to find a 
more perfect model than Jesus Christ, the Son 
of God. No characterization of His sublime life 
can do it justice. The character of Christ baffles 
all description. In this grand model of moral 
perfection, we find the natural and supernatural 
virtues in an eminent degree. The saints, 'tis 
true, give us a more or less perfect image of 
Almighty God; but Jesus Christ, as St. Paul as- 
sures us, is ^ "the image of the Invisible God, and 
the Firstborn of every creature." ^ "We saw His 
glory," exclaims the beloved disciple in an ec- 
stasy of delight, "the glory, as it were, of the 
only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and 
truth." 

Jesus Christy stands before us as the very 
acme and personification of all that is good, 
noble, perfect, and holy. This is why human 
history centers in Him. The centuries previous 
to His blessed advent into this world are desig- 
nated as "time before Christ," and our era, the 
Christian era, is counted from His blessed birth. 
And as Jesus Christ is the central figure in the 
history of mankind, so He should constitute the 
center of each individual human life. We must 
ever consider the words of St. Paul, "Put ye on 
the Lord Jesus Christ," as addressed to each 
one individually. To study and imitate the life 

iCol. 1:15. 2 St. John 1:14. 



134 The Palace Beautiful 

and virtues of Jesus Christ is, therefore, our 
foremost duty here on earth. 

The salutary knowledge of Christ, however, 
cannot be acquired suddenly and without effort. 
This saving knowledge is to be acquired, so to 
say, piece-meal. Every museum of note posses- 
ses a skeleton of a mastodon, or of an ichthy- 
osaurus — gigantic animals of prehistoric times, 
but which now are no longer to be found among 
the living creatures of the earth. It is interest- 
ing to learn how these skeletons have been ob- 
tained. In not a few cases they were secured 
from a skull, jaw-bone, rib, or from some other 
portion of the original skeleton carefully chis- 
eled out of a bed of coal, strata of lava, or from 
a bed of sandstone, where it had been buried 
centuries ago. From the size, nature, and con- 
struction of the precious relic the painstaking 
scientist was able to build around it a skeleton 
of the original animal, whose species is now 
extinct, and before whose immense size we 
stand in awe and admiration. In a somewhat 
similar manner we come to the salutary 
knowledge of God made Man. From the 
knowledge gained in childhood, youth, and ma- 
turity, our idea of Jesus Christ gradually grows 
and becomes, or ought to become, more and 
more clear and perfect. Even unconsciously, at 
times, we make deductions and draw con- 
clusions concerning the grand, unique, winning 



The Divine Exemplar Is Jesus Christ 135 

and irresistible personality of the Lord Jesus. If 
we strive to progress in this salutary knowledge, 
our love, too, will grow in proportion, and ere 
long, like the apostles, we shall esteem all things 
in relation to Jesus, and seek Him alone. 

Mere knowledge, however, of the historical 
Christ, sought from a kind of curiosity, would 
not suffice to make man better. In order that 
the knowledge of Christ be salutary and a "sav- 
ing knowledge," it must become part and parcel 
of our very soul. Throw as much fuel as you 
please into a furnace, it could not raise the 
temperature and banish cold unless it be ignited. 
So, too, in regard to the Word of God, by means 
of which we acquire the "saving knowledge" of 
Jesus Christ. The memory proposes this 
knowledge to 4he understanding, which must 
then reflect and meditate on it. The will, in turn, 
allows itself to be moved to hate what is evil 
and love what is good. And this activity of the 
will or love of God is a kind of fire that con- 
sumes sin and everything inordinate. "I came 
to send fire on the earth and what will I but 
that it burn." 

Or again : "Man liveth not by bread alone, but 
by every word that cometh from the mouth of 
God." The memory proposes this spiritual food 
of God's word to the soul, and the intellect, by 
means of prayerful meditation, digests and as- 
similates it. And as the continuance of bodily 



136 The Palace Beautiful 

life is made possible by means of a burning pro- 
cess, so the supernatural life of the soul is ef- 
fected by means of a glowing love of Jesus 
Christ, ignited and nourished by a pious consid- 
eration of His life. 

The contemplation of the Sayior's life of- 
fers an inexhaustible treasury of inspiring 
thoughts and incentives to moral perfection. 
What sublime opportunities and possibilities are 
not here unfolded to us. In that charming life 
we find the design and model of the Spiritual 
Edifice we are to construct. The nearer we ap- 
proach the perfection exemplified in the life of 
Christ, the more beautiful shall be the Spiritual 
Temple of our soul. It matters little in what 
rank, station, or condition the student of Christ's 
life may be, ever and anon shall he there find 
the most inspiring and perfect model for imita- 
tion. And the imitation of that sublime model 
of moral perfection brings with it temporal as 
well as eternal peace and happiness. 

Let not the poor, blurred and unfinished pic- 
ture which has here been presented, deter any 
one from imitating that peerless model — ^Jesus 
Christ. Were Our Lord not a true and veritable 
man as well as God, then indeed it would be fol- 
ly or arrogance to strive to become conformed to 
Him. Since, however. He became the Son of 
Man — one like unto us — ^in order to be our 
model, we would fail in duty were we not to imi- 



The Divine Exemplar Is Jesus Christ 137 

tate Him. Our Heavenly Father, when testifying 
to the character and holiness of His Only-Be- 
gotten Son, says': "This is My Beloved Son in 
Whom I am well pleased, hear ye Him." And 
Christ Himself says of His mission : ^ "I am the 
way, the truth, and the life." Or again, "Learn 
from Me, for I am meek and humble of heart." 
Without the way there can be no safe journey; 
without the truth there can be no salutary knowl- 
edge; without the life there can be no true living. 
So long then as we remain in union with Jesus 
Christ and strive to imitate the example He has 
given, all shall be well. Indeed, we cannot ex- 
pect to find peace and happiness apart from 
Jesus. We cannot even lay claim to the name 
of Christian, if we do not strive earnestly to 
imitate the example of the Author of Chris- 
tianity. 

The Saints in Heaven owe their present glory 
and happiness to their having studied and imi- 
tated this Divine Model. We have the same vo- 
cation which they had when they were on earth. 
Their one endeavor was to "put on Christ," and 
to be "conformed to Him." They endeavored 
to become good and perfect Christians. Christ 
was to them a Model and Advocate. And now 
He has "become unto them the cause of (their) 
eternal salvation." We, too, are to "put on 
Christ" and strive to become "conformed to 



iSt John 14:6. 



138 The Palace Beautiful 

Him." Thus He shall for us also become "the 
way, the truth and the life." "Being consum- 
mated, Jesus Christ has become to all that 
obey Him, the cause of eternal salvation." 

^ "Who then shall separate us from the love 
of Christ?" — asks that ardent lover of Our Lord, 
St. Paul: 

"Shall tribulation? or distress? or famine? or nakedness? 
Or danger? or persecution or the sword? .... 
For I am sure that neither death nor life, 
Nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, 
Nor things present, nor things to come. 
Nor might, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature. 
Shall be able to separate us from the love of God 
Which is in Christ Jesus, Our Lord." 



iRom. 8:35. 



CHAPTER V 

MODELS AND ADVOCATES IN PERFECTING THE PALACE 
BEAUTIFUL — ^THE BLESSED VIRGIN AND THE SAINTS 

The Spiritual Edifice, once built, must be pre- 
served in its integrity and beautified. That the 
House of the Soul be preserved a fit abode for 
God requires unceasing care and attention. To 
be indifferent to moral progress and perfection 
would be like opening the doors and windows of 
one's home to obnoxious insects and venomous 
serpents. In the great task of preserving and 
adorning The Palace Beautiful the Saints of God 
should be our models and advocates. 

Whilst viewing an exhibition of oil paintings 
or statuary, the eye of the beholder finally rests 
upon a few which he cannot help admiring 
more than the others. Now, why is this? 
Is it not because the particular works of art are 
in his judgment the most perfect — the most har- 
monious? It is a kind of harmony and perfec- 
tion, also, which attracts and delights us when 
contemplating the lives and characters of emi- 
nent men and women. We cannot help but 
esteem that person more than others in whose 
character we discover the greatest constancy, in 
whose actions we behold superior goodness, and 
in whose life we discern moral perfection. And, 
as in a beautiful work of art every stroke of the 

139 



140 The Palace Beautiful 

artist's brush or chisel is in accordance with cer- 
tain laws, so, also, every act of a truly great char- 
acter is in harmony with certain fixed laws and 
principles. The closer an artist adheres to the 
laws that govern his art, the greater is the per- 
fection of his work; the closer a human being 
adheres to the laws that should regulate our 
moral conduct, the more perfect will he be in 
the sight of God and of right-thinking men. 

Now, in glancing over the human race from 
Adam down to the present time, is not our 
mind's eye attracted by the Saints of God? In 
those truly great men and women we find the 
ideal of every virtue that adorns mankind. 
Whatever is noble in human nature or sublime 
in the order of grace, the saints possessed in a 
superior degree. In each one of them, in a 
greater or lesser degree, we find all the perfect 
virtues. While the blessed lived here on earth, 
they differed widely from each other in their 
leading traits and characteristics; yet they all 
practised the perfect virtues in an heroic degree. 
The sanctity of their lives gave them a just claim 
to the highest encomium that the Church be- 
stows and heaven ratifies. When reading the 
lives of the saints, we learn that the one was 
especially distinguished for his great meekness; 
in another we find the virtue of penance most 
conspicuous; a third exemplified the active life; 
a fourth the contemplative. A St. Peter of Al- 



Models and Advocates 141 

cantara seems to repel us by his great austerity; 
whilst a St. Philip Neri attracts us by his good 
humor and cheerfulness. Though the saints had 
peculiar and diverse characteristics, yet in each 
and every one of them we find the supernatural 
virtues and the gifts of the Holy Ghost. 

All the saints, too, when on earth were sub- 
ject to a severe probation. The dross had to be 
separated from the gold, and the gold "purified 
(so as) by fire." But how insignificant must 
their temporal trials appear to them now! What 
are even the greatest sufferings and tribulations 
when compared with the happiness awaiting 
the patient sufferer and faithful combatant! 
Who would not be willing to endure a loathsome 
and painful malady for a day, if, by so doing, he 
could obtain perfect bodily health for the re- 
mainder of his life? Would not everv sane man 
say to himself, "after all, the suffering will last 
but a day, and then I shall receive the greatest 
of temporal blessings for the remainder of my 
life." Yet what is the longest and happiest life 
here on earth compared with a blissful eternity? 
The Saints of God realized this great difference 
more clearly than others. Hence they may well 
serve us as an example in the great work of 
building for eternity. They have builded well 
and are now in possession of the eternal reward. 
Those great heroes and heroines, who now enjoy 
life everlasting, attained moral perfection by 



142 The Palace Beautiful 

studying the Divine Exemplar. And this is why 
they excelled their contemporaries in rearing 
Spiritual Edifices unto Life Everlasting. By im- 
itating them, we, too, shall be able to complete a 
House of the Soul worthy of a place in the 
Heavenly Jerusalem. 

The Spiritual Temple reared by the Blessed 
Virgin is beyond compare grander than that of 
any other saint of God. Her beautiful soul never 
stood in need of being regenerated, for it was 
never in the state of sin. At the creation of 
Mary's immaculate soul Almighty God worked a 
stupendous and unique miracle; by an excep- 
tional favor she was conceived without sin. On 
account of the disobedience of our first parents 
the whole human race, which was represented 
by them, was deprived of that supernatural gift 
called sanctifying grace. ^ "By one man," says 
St. Paul, "sin entered into this world, and by 
sin, death; and so death passed upon all men in 
whom all have sinned." Every human being, 
therefore, comes into this world deprived of 
sanctifying grace and, consequently, an enemy 
of God. We find only one exception to this uni- 
versal law; the Blessed Virgin is the only child 
of Adam whose soul was created in the state of 
sanctifying grace. Not even for an instant was 
that "Virgin Most Pure" without the "celestial 
wedding garment." And how could the Son of 

iRom. 5:12. 



Models and Advocates 143 

God, Who is Almighty, subject Himself to His 
arch-enemy? By becoming the child, however, 
of a woman born in sin. He Himself would have 
fallen under the thraldom of Satan, whom He 
came to vanquish. 

Mary's complete triumph over Satan had been 
foretold already in paradise: ^"And she shall 
crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for 
her heel," was said to Satan at the fall of our 
first parents. From the first moment of the 
Blessed Virgin's creation, the Holy Ghost be- 
came enshrined forever in her peerless soul. She 
is "all fair," — "The Immaculate Conception," — 
as she called herself in an apparition granted 
the favored Bernadette, in Lourdes. ^"The 
nearer anything approaches its principle, the 
more does it partake of the effect of that prin- 
ciple. Christ is the principle of grace, and Mary 
is nearest to Him, since He received from her 
His human nature. Hence, she ought to receive 
from Christ a greater fullness of grace than any 
other." As the light of the moon surpasses that 
of the stars and planets so the transcendent 
glory of the Sun of Justice reflected by Mary sur- 
passes that of all the other Saints. "Exaggera- 
tion is impossible," says St. Bernard, "when we 
speak of the Blessed Virgin's graces and privi- 
leges." Not the slightest stain of sin ever 
tarnished that bright "Mirror of Justice." Mary's 

1 Gen. 3:15. 

2 Summa, St. Thomas, Part III, Qu. 27, Art 5. 

10 



144 The Palace Beautiful 

was a life of the greatest purity of soul and of the 
most intimate union with Almighty God. Scarce- 
ly had she died when the angels and saints de- 
scended to greet and welcome her as their queen. 

Mary, the Virgin Mother of God, is the 
masterpiece of God's creation. What wonder 
then that we find her image or statue in every 
Catholic church on the globe? Is it surprising 
that we are exhorted to honor, love, and vener- 
ate Mary, the "blessed among women"? Are we 
not, as it were, unconsciously moved to invoke 
her powerful intercession? Mary alone was con- 
ceived immaculate; she alone led a life entirely 
free from sin; she alone among the children of 
men was deemed worthy to be chosen Mother of 
God; she alone is the mediatrix of the human 
race. These graces and prerogatives give the 
Blessed Virgin the highest place among all the 
children of God. They entitle her to a throne 
nearest that of her Divine Son, and crown her 
the "Queen of Heaven and Earth." 

Among the various devotions cherished by 
our holy religion, there is perhaps none that is 
more specifically and exclusively Catholic than 
the devotion to the Blessed Virgin. From his 
earliest infancy the Catholic child is taught to 
honor and venerate the Mother of God. Nor 
is there any special effort required to implant 
and develop this charming virtue in the heart of 
a Catholic child, enlightened as he is by the 



Models and Advocates 145 

divine virtue of Faith received in baptism. In 
the light of his Faith, the Christian child readily 
understands that the Mother of God is, also, his 
own spiritual mother. As his mind develops, 
and the responsibilities of life dawn upon him, 
he quite instinctively has recourse to his divinely 
appointed patron and advocate. Through Mary's 
powerful assistance, the Catholic hopes and 
prays to attain the end for which he has been 
created — eternal happiness. 

Honor to whom honor is due! Had the 
Blessed Virgin no other title to our love and 
veneration than that of her divine maternity, 
this alone ought to prompt all men to pay her 
the highest homage. From amongst countless 
millions Mary was selected by the Second Per- 
son of the Blessed Trinity to become His virgin 
mother in the order of nature; and, because she 
was chosen to be the Mother of God, her pure 
soul was exempted from the taint of original 
sin and adorned with sanctifying grace at the 
very instant of her conception. In no other 
member of the human race are the perfections 
of God reflected so clearly and perfectly as in 
His blessed mother. If we wish to behold a per- 
fect copy of the original Image and Likeness 
according to which man was made, we need but 
contemplate Mary, the Virgin. Grand is this 
visible universe which the Almighty has created 
as a temporary home for us. His children; in- 



146 The Palace Beautiful 

comparably grander is the invisible world which 
He created for His angels and saints; the abode, 
however, which He chose for Himself is more 
beautiful than either, and is called Mary Im- 
maculate. 

We ought not wonder, then, that the arch- 
angel Gabriel salutes the Virgin Most Admirable 
with those significant words, ^ "Hail full of grace, 
the Lord is with thee; behold thou shalt con- 
ceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a Son 
and thou shalt call His name Jesus." The 
Blessed Virgin, therefore, as the Mother of God, 
has a just claim to our highest honor and vener- 
ation. She was created by God the Father, and 
sanctified by God the Holy Ghost to be the ma- 
ternal shrine of the "Word made Flesh." 

Every attack on the devotion to the Blessed 
Virgin is doomed to fail. Her prophetic words, 
"behold all generations shall call me blessed," 
are destined to be fulfilled. Mary is the Mother 
of God as truly and really as Christ is the God- 
Man. But, already in apostolic times, heretics 
like Cerinthus publicly asserted that devotion to 
Mary was idolatry, and that the title "Mother of 
God" was an insult to God. Perhaps the great- 
est attempt to deprive Mary of the title and 
honor due her was made by the unfortunate 
Nestorius, once bishop of Constantinople. In 
the year 428 this bishop, inspired by the author 



1 St. Liukle 1 :28 sqq. 



Models and Advocates 147 

of falsehood, publicly taught that there were two 
persons in Christ, and that Mary is the mother 
of the human person only, but not of the divine 
person. To call the Blessed Virgin "Mother of 
God" he openly and blasphemously asserted, 
would be to justify the pagan folly of giving 
mothers to their gods. In a sermon preached in 
his cathedral at Constantinople, the proud and 
blinded man went so far as to hurl an anathema 
against all who called Mary the Mother of God. 
iAt these awful words the audience rose in pro- 
test, and left the cathedral. The whole Catholic 
orient thereupon became aroused. St. Cyril, 
patriarch of Alexandria, at once championed the 
cause of God's Mother. In a learned treatise he 
refuted and condemned the false teachings of 
Nestorius. A council, too, was convened at 
Rome by Pope Celestine, which threatened to 
excommunicate the bishop unless he should re- 
tract his errors within a given time. 

Nestorius, remaining obdurate, a second 
council was summoned to meet at Ephesus. 
This assembly met on the 22d of June, 
in the year 431, under the presidency of St. 
Cyril. After the errors of the fallen bishop Nes- 
torius were read and explained, the two hundred 
successors of the Twelve, whom Christ Himself 
has chosen, rose to their feet, and, with one 
voice, declared "anathema to such teachings; 
anathema to whomsoever holds such opinions; 



148 The Palace Beautiful 

for they are contrary to the Sacred Scriptures 
and the Traditions of the Fathers." Nestorius 
himself was thereupon excommunicated, de- 
posed from his episcopal office, and cut off from 
the body of the faithful. Thus again did a loving 
and watchful Providence defend and protect the 
honor and glory due to the Mother of God. 
Others, too, besides the heretical Nestorius, who 
died in obscurity, have likewise failed in their 
efforts to minimize the glory of her who is des- 
tined by the Almighty to be "called blessed by 
all generations." 

In vain then shall heretics and infidels en- 
deavor to rob the Blessed Virgin of the venera- 
tion and homage due her as the Mother of 
God. In vain shall they attempt to despoil Mary 
of those illustrious titles and encomiums so just- 
ly bestowed upon her by the one true Church of 
God. From Cerinthus to Nestorius, from Nes- 
torius to Luther, from Luther to the latest here- 
tic of modern Protestanism, every attempt to 
destroy Mary's benign influence, or to wrench de- 
votion to her from the hearts of the faithful, 
has met with complete failure; and as heretics 
of the past have failed in this endeavor, so shall 
those of the future fail; for, what has been said 
of the Rock of Peter and the Church built there- 
on, may likewise be applied to the pious venera- 
tion due Mary the Mother of God : "The gates of 
hell shall not prevail against it." 



Models and Advocates 149 

The Blessed Virgin is not only the Mother of 
God, but she is, likewise, our spiritual mother. 
"Behold thy mother," are the affectionate words 
which Her Divine Son hanging on the cross, ad- 
dressed to each and every one of us. "Behold 
thy mother;" My mother shall henceforth be 
thy mother, is what He wished to say; through 
her thou art to come to Me; what thou asketh 
in her name shall not be denied thee. Thus 
does Our Divine Savior address you and me. 

The Almighty, too, has vested our spiritual 
mother with extraordinary, j^ea, with well-nigh 
boundless power. ^ "God has chosen the Blessed 
Virgin," says the saintly de Montfort, "for the 
treasurer, steward and dispenser of all His 
graces, so that all His graces and all His gifts pass 
through her hands;" and, "according to the power 
w|hich she has received over them," adds St. 
Bernardine, "she gives .... the virtues of Jesus 
Christ and the gifts of the Holy Ghost to whom 
she wills, as she wills, and as much as she wills." 
From her exalted throne in heaven she beholds 
us with the tender eyes of a mother, who not 
only w^atches over her child and protects him 
against falling, but, after he has fallen, assists 
and comforts him. Boundless as the ocean is 
a natural mother's love! But boundless as the 
universe is the love of the Blessed Virgin, our 
supernatural mother. 



1 Devotion of Mary.-— de Montfort, p. 50. 



150 The Palace Beautiful 

A young man, who is the hope and stay of 
his parents, becomes discontented and resolves 
to leave his humble home. The w^orld beyond 
the little town of his birth seems so big and 
attractive. Once away from his modest environ- 
ment, he imagines his life will be one contin- 
uous round of unalloyed pleasure. He leaves 
the parental roof in the best of health, rosy- 
cheeked, innocent, noble-hearted, the pride of 
all who know him. Not long after his departure, 
however, he falls in with bad companions who 
teach him all manner of wickedness. He read- 
ily tastes of the fatal cup, drinks deep of its 
sinful draught, and, alas, becomes poisoned to 
the core by sin and vice. And now", after the 
lapse of some years, sorely afflicted in body and 
soul, he returns home. The roses that erstwhile 
bloomed on his cheeks, the lofty aspirations that 
animated his heart, the pure soul that sparkled 
from his eyes, the cheerful smile that lit up his 
frank and innocent countenance, — all are gone. 
He returns to his native town, pale, hollow-eyed, 
wrecked in soul and body. He meets an old 
friend and former school-mate, reaches out his 
hand, but is ignored. Not a single one of his 
former friends and acquaintances cares to recog- 
nize the returning prodigal; they are ashamed 
of him. None offers him the glad hand of fel- 
lowship, or as much as greets him. Oh, is this 
the kind of reception that awaits him, perhaps, 



Models and Advocates 151 

in his own home ! His courage begins to fail. 
When about to retrace his steps in despair he 
thinks of his aged parents and how he had de- 
spised their loving advice and solicitude. At 
the thought of his dear old mother he again 
takes heart. Broken in spirit and deeply peni- 
tent, he goes to the home he had plunged in 
sorrow years ago. He raps timidly at the door, 
and the next moment is in the embrace of his 
now overjoyed mother, who had never ceased 
praying for the return of her wayward child. She 
does not spurn nor disown him. Oh no! In her 
maternal heart there still beats the same ardent 
love of yore. And there, on the bosom of his 
good old mother, the poor young man finds the 
same affectionate place as of old. 

Truly, no one is able to measure the love and 
compassion of a natural mother toward her af- 
flicted and penitent child; yet, even a mother's 
love is weak and insignificant when compared 
with the supernatural love w^hich the Queen of 
Heaven bears towards all, and especially 
towards those who are in spiritual or bodily af- 
fliction. Yea, it would seem that her tender 
compassion and readiness to assist are propor- 
tionate to man's need. Who but God alone can 
number those who have found in the Blessed 
Virgin not only their best, but their only friend? 
Well-nigh infinite is the number that have ob- 
tained through the intercession of the Refuge 



152 The Palace Beautiful 

of Sinners the forgiveness and consequent peace 
of mind they had sought elsewhere in vain. The 
maternal love of the Blessed Virgin is universal 
and far greater in intensity than that of any 
other saint of God. She cannot help but love 
us most tenderly, realizing as she does, that we 
have been redeemed by the Life-blood of her 
own dear Son. It is said of Catherine of Sienna, 
Peter Claver, and a number of other saints, that 
they were wont to seek out those afflicted with 
loathsome diseases, and, with their lips draw out 
the deadly virus from the festering wounds of 
their patients. What man could withhold his 
praise and admiration for such genuinely heroic 
charity ! We find it difficult to understand how 
any one can render such noble, self-sacrificing 
service to a perfect stranger. Yet what the flash 
of a fire-fly is to the light of the sun, that is the 
greatest fraternal charity found among the saints 
compared with the ardent love glowing in the 
Immaculate Heart of Mary towards us, her spir- 
itual children. And, as the sun sends its benign 
rays to every nook and corner of the earth, so is 
the love of Mary able to find and cheer the most 
wretched and forlorn. Well does she bear the 
title "Comforter of the afflicted." 

The Blessed Virgin is sometimes portrayed 
as clothed with the sun and having the moon 
under her feet. This representation corresponds 
to a vision of St. John in which "he saw a great 



Models and Advocates 153 

sign in the heavens; a woman clothed with 
the sun and having the moon under her feet." 
The woman thus described in the Apocalypse is 
none other than the Virgin Mother of God. In- 
terpreters of Holy Writ explain the vision as 
signifying the Blessed Virgin's contempt for 
temporal possessions, which, like the lunar orb, 
are changeable. And, indeed, never did a human 
being despise the things of this world more per- 
fectly than did the Virgin Most Chaste. Never 
did she allow her heart to become inordinately 
attached to anything transitory. "Where one's 
treasure is there is one's heart also." Mary's 
heart and affections were wholly consecrated to 
Almighty God, Whom she loved with all the 
powers of her soul. "My beloved is mine and 
I am His." 

The beautiful and pleasing variety of a tropi- 
cal country naturally directs the mind of the 
traveler to the sun which gives their brilliant 
tints to the flowers and their ripeness to the 
fruits of the field. The variegated hues of its 
vegetation, the teeming exuberance of its plains, 
and the rich foliage of the forests are due chiefly 
to the nearness of that immense "oven of the 
universe" which gives life, color and beauty to 
the tiny violet by the wayside, as well as to the 
mighty oak. And the nearer a region of the earth 
is to the sun, the more exuberant and charming 
is its plantal life. 



154 The Palace Beautiful 

God is the one source of supernatural life, 
health, and vigor. The nearer a person ap- 
proaches this infinite fountain-head of all that is 
good and beautiful the more abundant will be 
his harvest of good works and virtues. From day 
to day, from hour to hour, the devout soul ap- 
proaches this infinite source of supernal life 
more closely, and consequently grows in merit 
and perfection. Mary's peerless soul became 
daily more like that of her Divine Son, Who is 
the one source of all genuine virtue, beauty, and 
goodness. Hence it is that the Virgin Most Holy 
has such a peculiar charm. Her ardent, ever-in- 
creasing love of God gave her an entrancing 
beauty, and made her the "Virgin Most Admir- 
able." Her soul was the purest, her life the most 
charming, her virtuous deeds the most numer- 
ous, and her death the holiest because she ap- 
proached nearest of all men to God. The entire 
life of the "Mother of Fair Love" was one con- 
tinuous, uninterrupted growth in the love of 
God; every day, yea, every hour found her ad- 
vancing further on the path of perfection, and 
thus becoming more closely united to her God 
and Creator. Such was the ardor of her in- 
tense love that it finally melted the bonds of her 
soul and body, only to reunite them again in the 
celestial paradise, where she now reigns as 
Queen of Angels and Men. 

Next to Our Lord, therefore, the Blessed Vir- 



Models and Advocates 155 

gin has the strongest claim on our devotion. To 
be wanting in love and affection to Mary, our 
Spiritual Mother, would be to lack a living Faith. 
To be devoid of confidence in her intercession 
with God would be to lack Christian Hope. 
Through Mary to Jesus, and through Jesus, Our 
Blessed Redeemer, to the Heavenly Father. 
Mary, the intercessor of the human family 
wishes to be a loving mother to every member of 
this family, so largely represented in this valley 
of tears; why, then, should we not strive to be 
her devoted children? And if we place the hope 
of our salvation in Mary, the "Gate of Heaven," 
she will not fail to come to our assistance "in the 
hour of our death," and convert the last throes 
of our poor mortal being into the first raptures 
of never-ending bliss. 



CONCLUSION 

ZEAL, AN ESSENTIAL VIRTUE IN BUILDING AND ADORN- 
ING THE PALACE BEAUTIFUL 

"On tlie King's errands wing thy feet, 
See that the rooms be clean and neat 

With fragrance from the garden flowers 
That tell of tended, happy hours. 

"Keep thy soul-palace all for Him; 
Let not a breath its whiteness dim; 

Your love to Him, your treasures bring 
Where in His throne-room reigns thy King. 

"With passionate love He waiteth there, 
Hidden in light, to hear thy prayer; 
The wonders of that secret place 
Hb opes to fervent souls by grace." 

— M. S. Pine. 

There is no greater craving, there is no great- 
er thirst, there is no greater hunger, than the 
hunger and thirst and craving after God. We 
want God. We need God. God is absolutely 
essential to human happiness, both in this world 
and in the next. Barren and miserable is the 
man who is estranged from God. A Godless life 
is a hell on earth and shall be the cause of hell 
in eternity. Now the practice of faith, hope, 
and charity brings us nearer and nearer to God; 

156 



Conclusion 157 



and nothing in all the world can be compared 
in, value to a step of greater nearness to God — 
the Supreme Good. The official prayer of the 
Church for the Thirteenth Sunday after Pente- 
cost is a petition for an increase of faith, hope 
and charity. By practising these most necessary 
virtues we increase them, and in the same de- 
gree strengthen the bond of our union with God. 
It is thus that the "Palace Beautiful" grows in 
size, strength, beauty and permanence. 

By neglecting to practise these essential vir- 
tues, the House of the Soul gradually falls into 
ruins. ^ "By slothfulness the building (of the 
soul) decayeth." A house does not go to ruin 
suddenly. A little rain finds its way into the 
walls or foundation, and, in time, they begin to 
rot and disintegrate. Eventually the building 
will become unfit for habitation. Through 
sloth and religious indifference the foundation 
and superstructure of the House of the Soul 
gradually become weakened and fall into ruins. 
It is thus that man is reduced to the plane of 
the irrational animals, and inhabits caves and 
haunts resembling theirs. "Man, when he was 
in honor," disobeyed his God and "became like 
unto brute animals." 

Every man, then, is the architect of his 
eternal destiny and can, if he will, build unto 
life everlasting. Build we must! The all-im- 

1 Eccles. 10 :18. 



158 The Palace Beautiful 

portant work of rearing a Temple of God re- 
quires exertion. In regard to the final result 
there shall be but two beings in the Universe — 
God, the Judge, and man, the builder. In ex- 
clusively temporal matters, he who is wealthy 
can, to a great extent, avoid the trouble of look- 
ing after his business affairs, and employ others 
to do his work for him. But in spiritual matters 
the multi-billionaire is no better off than his 
most needy servant. There is no aristocratic 
road to heaven. The life of every ^"man on 
earth" who wishes to save his soul, "must be a 
warfare." Were a person to shun human socie- 
ty and enter upon a voluntary exile on an un- 
inhabited island, he would still have many temp- 
tations; for they are part and parcel of our very 
nature. No state, however holy, is free from 
them. No condition in life is without its trials 
and hardships. No place on earth that could 
afford a retreat from the necessary probation 
which every human being must undergo. 

And when a man stands before the tribunal 
of God, it will matter little whether he shall 
have been rich or poor during his probation 
here on earth, whether in honor or dishonor. 
There strict justice shall be meted out to all, to 
him who dined at a sumptuous board, as well 
as to him whom poverty compelled to eat his 
scanty meal out of a lunch-box by the wayside. 

iJob 7:1. 



Conclusion 159 



On one's works, be they good or bad, and on 
these alone, will depend his eternal happiness 
or misery. ^ "God will render to every man ac- 
cording to his works." ^ "For every (spiritual) 
house is built by some man; but He that created 
all things (and that shall judge the builders) is 
God." And the man who has neglected ^ "to 
build a house to the name of the Lord," shall be 
condemned. He, however, who labors zealously 
at erecting a Temple of God shall be happy and 
contented for time and eternity. ^ "We know, if 
our earthly house of this habitation be dissolved, 
that we have a building of God, a house not 
made with hands, eternal in heaven." The man 
of zeal considers himself an image of God to be 
perfected, a Temple of the Holy Ghost to be pre- 
served against all manner of desecration, and 
a co-heir with Christ to be made worthy of the 
company of the angels and saints, yea, of God 
Himself. 

And surely nothing should be of greater con- 
cern to us than to labor at our salvation with 
ever-increasing zeal. God seems to exhaust His 
mercy and goodness in order to make our salva- 
tion as easy and secure as possible. But His 
justice requires Him to leave man free in avail- 
ing himself of the gifts of His bounty. Hence it 
is that our salvation depends on our own free 
will and zeal. We, and we alone, can render the 

iRom. 2:6. 2 Hebr. 3;4. 3 m Kings 3:2. 
4 11 Cor. 5:1. 

10 



160 The Palace Beautiful 

works of God fruitless in our regard. Our soul's 
eternal damnation or salvation is wholly within 
our power, since the soul alone belongs entirely 
to us. The possession of riches, power, and hon- 
ors lasts for a brief time only. They are a loan, 
rather than a possession; for, "we have brought 
nothing into this world and shall surely carry 
nothing out." But our soul, since it is our very 
self, shall belong to us forever. Hence, the most 
important question anyone can ask himself is 
not, "How am I to become wealthy, powerful, or 
renowned?" but, "How am I to build and adorn 
the Spiritual House of my Soul?" For ^"What 
doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, 
and suffer the loss of his own soul?" 

"The one thing needful," therefore, is, that 
we build a Temple unto Life Everlasting. For 
what other end or purpose is there in life, that 
is worthy of man's supreme effort? We know 
that it is in accordance with God's Holy Will that 
creatures of a lower grade serve those of a high- 
er. Thus the mineral world serves the vegetable 
world; and the vegetable world, in turn, serves 
the animal world. But all, without exception, 
the mineral world as well as the vegetable, ani- 
mate nature as well as inanimate nature, is sub- 
ject to man. Man has been appointed king of 
the visible creation. God combined in him the 
perfections of all the various worlds, making 

iSt. Matt, 16:26. 



Conclusion 161 



him "a little less than the angels." The other 
creatures of this world are of a lower order than 
man, who has been created superior to the ma- 
terial universe, and for God alone. Hence, man 
is to learn and accomplish God's holy will. Ev- 
erything applied for any other end or purpose 
by man is abused, or at least rendered useless. 
And by making creatures subservient to our 
glorious end — eternal happiness — we can se- 
cure peace in this world, and life everlasting 
with God in the next. 

And who is able to form an adequate con- 
ception of that blessed reward! As the realm 
of the damned is essentially lifeless, because de- 
void of grace, so is that of the blessed essentially 
the "realm of eternal life." When the "Book of 
Life" according to which all men are to be 
judged shall have been closed forever on the 
Last Day, only two kingdoms will remain — the 
Kingdom of Christ and the Kingdom of Lucifer 
— the kingdom of Life and that of Death. Im- 
minent action or continual movement from 
within is the exclusive property and sign of all 
things living. The practice of Christian zeal, 
which supposes the presence of supernatural life 
and activity, must needs produce perpetual 
changes in the form and beauty of the Spiritual 
House of the Soul. The art of architecture, like 
painting, is "an art of rest." Not so the art of 
building a Palace Beautiful. Like music this 



162 The Palace Beautiful 

task belongs to the "arts of movement." What is 
impossible in the material order is actually oc- 
curring in the spiritual and supernatural order. 
"He that is just, let him be justified still; and he 
that is holy, let him be sanctified still." 

May we not suppose, too, that the enchanting 
scenes of the Heavenly Jerusalem, which human 
"eye hath not seen, nor heart conceived," are, 
like a charming landscape at early dawn, con- 
stantly assuming new and varied forms and 
beauty? Moreover, we can easily imagine how 
the Mansions of Light built by the blessed when 
they were on earth are becoming more and more 
exquisite as a reward for the prayers, good 
works, and sacrifices offered in their honor by 
the Church Militant. 

If we could but understand what it signified 
to be an "heir of life everlasting!" Then, indeed, 
would our heart yearn after our inheritance, and 
our thoughts would dwell on temporal things 
only in so far as these could aid us in attaining 
that blessed good; for we would then realize the 
truth of St. Augustine's words, that "all temporal 
things compared with heaven are most worth- 
less trifles, and empty vanities." Suppose, whilst 
glancing over a new^spaper, you would read that 
information was wanted of one who had fallen 
heir to a large fortune; you read on, and to your 
joyful surprise discover that you are the desired 
heir. You make the necessary inquiries and dis- 



Conclusion 163 



cover that the deceased was a near relative, who 
had gone to a distant land, acquired great 
wealth, and died, leaving you his sole heir. With 
what readiness would you not set out to take 
possession of your inheritance! Disregarding 
comforts, pleasures and hardships, you would 
employ all the necessary means to obtain the 
legacy. Now, each one of us has fallen heir to 
a fortune far greater than can be imagined. It 
has been willed to us by Our Divine Savior, and 
the Testament has been sealed by His own Pre- 
cious Blood. 

Yes, we have become heirs of heaven. Ah, 
sweet name that fills the Christian soul with 
keenest delight! Happy abode, where tears, 
sighs, and sufferings are unknown. Would that 
the clouds could unfurl and give us a glimpse 
of that realm of inexpressible delight, to which 
we have fallen heirs! Freed from all care, our 
elder brothers and sisters — the saints — are sati- 
ated with the purest joy. Penetrated with hap- 
piness, they bathe in the waters of eternal bliss 
that roll out in mighty waves from the throne 
of God. How insignificant must their former 
trials appear to them now ! Would that we could 
know thy joys, O Paradise, what would we not 
do to acquire thee. Surely where there is danger 
of losing heaven there can be no possible gain. 

Eternal happiness is the end for which we 
have been created. All else is simply a means 



164 The Palace Beautiful 

to that end. Our soul's salvation is worth more 
than the entire material universe; for the lat- 
ter cost but an act of the Creator's will, whilst 
to save our soul has cost the Life-blood of God 
Himself. Whatever be our occupation, then, 
we should be able to say at every moment of 
our life, that we are building for eternity. All 
our plans and labors must be made to harmonize 
with the intention of a loving God, Who created 
us for eternal bliss. 

How differently shall we look upon the fas- 
cinating pleasures of this short life in the hour 
of death ! Then, indeed, will all things temporal 
be held at their real and not their apparent val- 
ue. What shall we then think of the deceptive 
allurements of this brief life, as they sink into 
oblivion, and an eternity dawns upon us? Yes, 
all things shall pass away, joys and sorrows, 
pleasures and trials, friends and enemies. God, 
Who alone is good, and "the house of our eterni- 
ty" which alone is lasting, shall remain. What 
then is worthy of our endeavors and solicitude, 
save to direct all things to the sublime task of 
building unto the Living God a Palace 
Beautiful? 

A. M. D. G. 



INDEX 



Ambrose, Saint, 93. 

Animals, under Divine Provi- 
dence, 80 sq. 

Arago, Francis, on Faith and 
Science, 55. 

Aristotle, 115. 

Augustine, Saint, 106; 112. 

B 

Bernard, Saint, on the Blessed 

Virgin, 143. 
Bemardine, Saint, 149. 
Bible, The, to be read and 

studied bj Catholics, 64 sq. 
Blessed Virgin, 142 sqq. 



Catherine of Sienna, Saint, 

152. 
Celestial Spheres, harmony of, 

76 sqq. 
Celestine, Pope, 147. 
Cerinthus, heresy of, 146. 
Chalmers, on the formal order 

in the universe, 30. 
Charity, Christian, 18 sqq.; 

109 sqq. 
Charity, Virtue of, 111. 
Church, The, 44 sqq. ; unity of, 

46 sqq. 
Claver, St. Peter, 152. 
Concurrence of Grod, required 

in all human actions, 52. 
Conscience, "the voice of 

Cod," 68 sqq. 
Council of Ephesus, 147. 
Cyril, Saint, 147. 
Czolgosz, 20. 



DeMontfort, on devotion to 
the Blessed Virgin, 149. 

Devotion to the Blessed Vir- 
gin, 144 sqq. 

Divine Providence, 72 sqq. 

Dream of Gerontius, Newman, 
50. 

Dunbar, poem by, "Con- 
science and Remorse," 70. - 



Ephesus, Council of, 146 sqq. 



Faith, Virtue of, 26 sqq.; 49 
sqq.; truths of are not re- 
pugnant to reason, 55. 

Friendship and Charity, com- 
pared, 114 sqq. 



God — ^knowledge of, 13 sqq.; 

25 sqq.; names of, 32 sq. 
Grace, Actual, 98 sqq. 
Grace, Sanctifying, 103 sqq.; 

beauty of a soul in the state 

of, 107 sqq. 

H 

Heaven, joys of, 163. 

Hope, Christian, reasons and 

effects of, 72 sqq. 
Hugh of St. Victor, on love, 

124. 
Humility, Supernatural Virtue 

of, 51 sqq. 



165 



166 



Index 



I 

Ideal, definition of, 24. 

Immaculate Conception of the 
Blessed Virgin, 142 sqq. 

Infidelity, a cause of dis- 
quietude and anguish of 
soul, 60 sq. 

Irreligion, paralyzes the 
powers of the soul, 60 sqq. 



Jesus Christ, the Messiah, 34 
sqq. ; Divinity of, 41 ; knowl- 
edge of, 40; 129; man's 
knowledge of, 134 sqq.; 
Model and Advocate, 43; 
125 sqq. ; charity of, 131 sq. 

Jouffroy, Theodore, testifies to 
the evil consequences of in- 
fidelity, 60 sq. 

Joy, natural and supernatural 
compared, 11 sqq. 

Judgment, Last, 158 sq. 

K 

Knowledge, natural and super- 
natural compared, 58 sq.; 
134 sqq. 



Life, everlasting, 12 sq.; 123 

sq, ; 156 sqq. ; 162 sqq. 
Light, physical and spiritual 

compared, 27. 
Liguorian, The, anecdote 

quoted, 55. 
Love, maternal, example of, 

150 sqq. 

M 

McKinley, William, ex-Presi- 
dent of the United States, 
2L 



Man, dignity and destiny of, 
66; 126 sq. ; entirely de- 
pendent on God, 52 sqq.; 
under the care of a loving 
Providence, 83 sqq. 

Mary, the Mother of Grod, 147 
sqq.; our spiritual mother, 
149. 

Meditation, 135 sqq. 

Mercier, Cardinal, anecdote 
from "Eetreat to Hie 
Priests," 60 sq. 

Mercy, God's in the Redemp- 
tion, 85 sqq. 

Messianic Prophecies, the, 35 
sq. 

Miller, J. Corson, poem by, 
"A Night of Stars," 14. 

Miracles of Christ, 36 sqq. 

Moigno, Abbe, on Science and 
Faith, 55 sq. 

N 

Names of God, in different 
languages, 32 sq. 

Nestorius, hersy and condem- 
nation of, 146 sqq. 

Newman, Cardinal, on Con- 
science, 71. 

New York City, conflagration, 
2L 



Palace, God's, 9, 96, 156. 
Passion of Christ, 86 sqq. 
Pastoral Letter of the Bishops 

of the United States on 

Faith, 62 sqq. 
Peace, interior, poem on, 92. 
Peter, Saint, of Alcantera, 140. 
Prophecies, Messianic, the, 

35 sqq. 
Providence, Divine, nature 

and comprehensiveness of, 

72 sqq. 



Index 



167 



Philanthropy and Charity, by 
Tardivel, 122 sq. 

Pine, M. S., poem by, 9, 96, 
156. 

Plantal life, under Divine 
Providence, 79 sqq. 

Poe, Edgar AUan, on Eternal 
Existence of Man, 12 sq. 

Providence, Divine, 75 sqq. 

Purposiveness, discernible 

throughout the visible uni- 
verse, 25 sqq.; 75 sqq. 



Reason and Faith, 55. 
Eeligion, virtue and practise 
of, 51 sqq. ; unity of, 54 sqq. 
Revelation, 33 sqq. 
Roentgen-rays, 27. 



S 



Saint Philip Neri, 141. 
Saints, the, our models and 

advocates, 139 sqq. 
Salvation, Eternal, necessity 

of constantly laboring for, 

158 sqq. 
Sanctifying Grace, 103 sqq, 
Schiller, on conscience, 72. 
Schoolmate, on the names of 

God in various languages, 

32 sqq. 
Schwinn, O. S. B., poem by, 

76. 
Self-love, true, 121 sq. 
Selfishness, 122 sq. 
Shaler, Professor, on the 

formal order in the universe, 

77. 
Simonides, on the nature and 

essence of God, 32. 



Sin, mortal, 104 sq. ; makes 

man miserable, 150. 
Spheres, celestial, harmony of, 

76 sq. 
Strength, moral, derived from 

the practise of religion and 

humility, 59 sqq. 



Tardivel, on Charity and 

Philanthropy, 122. 
Thomas a Kempis, on a Good 

Conscience, 71. 
Thomas, Saint, passim. 
Thorley, poem by, 6. 
Titanic, The, 102. 
Transfiguration, The, 11. 

U 

Understanding, Gift of, 58. 
Universe, the visible, under 

Guidance, 75 sqq. 
Unity of The Church, 46 sqq. 



Velocity of Light, 27. 
Virgin, the Blessed, our Model 

and Advocate, 142 sqq. 
Volcanoes, purpose of, in the 

economy of nature, 78 sq. 

W 

Wenninger, S. J., on the re- 
lation between Faith and 
Reason, 55. 



X-rays, 27. 



Zeal, virtue of, 156 sqq. 



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